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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 









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OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE, 



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Sketches of Seven Summers Abroad. 



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KEY. EDAVAED P^^THWING, M.D., PH.D., 






OJ 



FELLOW OF THE LONDON SOCIETY OF SCIENCE, LETTERS AND ART, 

MEMBER BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, N. Y ACADEMY OF 

SCIENCES. ACADEMY OF ANTHROPOLOGY, ETC. 




NEW YORK: 
HURST & CO., Publishers, 

122 Nassau Street. 




TBB UBRARY 
or CONGRESS 

WASHINGTON 



r1 



.n/ 



-ARGYLE PRESS, 
Printing and Bookbinding, 
24 a 26 wooster st., n. y. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAOB. 

Ireland and the Irish, ..... 5 

CHAPTER II. 
Scotland, .... 25 

CHAPTER III. 
England and Wales, ..... 41 

CHAPTER IV. 
France and Belgium, .... 79 

CHAPTER V. 
Holland and Germany, .. . . . .88 

CHAPTER VI. 
Switzerland, ..... 102 

CHAPTER VII. 
Italy, . . . . • . ,139 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Land of the Midnight Sun, . . , 205 

CHAPTER IX. 
Glimpses op Finland, Russia, and Denmark, . 220 

CHAPTER X. 
Sunny Spain, ...... 237 



OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 



CHAPTER I. 
Ireland and the Irish. 

" All ashore for Queenstown ! " was a welcome call 
after nine days at sea. We had had a large and pleasant 
company, and the enjoyment of abundant comforts. Two 
weeks were now to be given to the beautiful Emerald 
Isle. 

Nothing more delicious could be desired than the dawn 
of that dewy June morning we landed. All was beauty 
and freshness. "Jocund day stood tiptoe on the misty 
mountain top." The solid earth under our feet seemed 
good to tread upon, and the green fields and blue heavens 
wore a loveliness we could not describe. Hungry as we 
were, some of the party at once started to see the sun rise 
from the heights of Queenstown and to enjoy a landscape 
which an Eastern traveler compares to the Bosphorus. 
They came back loaded with evergreen, ivy leaves, daisies 
and buttercups. After an ordinary breakfast, at an extra- 
ordinary price, at " The European," we rode by rail to 
Cork, a short but charming trip along the winding Lee, 
through meadows where sheep and oxen fed, by humble, 
whitewashed cottages and lordly castles, quaint villages 
and ancient ruins, until we reached 

THE CITY OF CORK. 

An Irish nobleman once asked Foote, at whose table 
wine flowed freely, if he had been to see Cork. " No, my 



6 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

lord, but I've seen many drawings of it this evening ! " 
Core was a native monarch. Some, however, derive the 
name from Corcagh, a SAvarap, the city being founded by 
the Danes, on several marshy islands. Two hundred years 
ago these were drained and consolidated, and other im- 
provements made. Lord Orrery's letter to Dean Swift, in 
1736, does not, indeed, flatter the place or people, for he 
says, " materials for a letter are as hard to be found as 
money, sense, honesty, or - truth ! " The great painter, 
James Barry, left here in boyhood, never to return. 
" Cork gave me breath, but never would have given me 
bread," he said. Camden, in the sixteenth century, says 
that " it is a pretty town, well peopled, but so beset with 
rebels they faine keepe alwaies a set watch and ward, and 
dare not marrie their daughters forth into the country, but 
make marriages one with another, whereby all the citizens 
are linked together." The military importance of the 
place in the days of the Stuarts is pictured in the old 
rhyme : 

" Limerick was, Dublin is, but Cork will be 
The greatest city of the three." 

Spenser, with photographic fidelity, describes the " is- 
land fair " enclosed by " The spreading Lee, with his 
divided flood." 

We found Cork an attractive place as we rode in a jaunt- 
ing car, three of us for two shillings, through the city and 
out into the suburbs, stopping now and then to make closer 
inspection. The jaunting, or jolting, car, is a unique con- 
trivance; each side of the car folds up like the lid of a trunk. 
You sit directly over the wheel. Like medicine, you are 
sure " to be well shaken, before taken " to your destina- 
tion. 

The statue of the great reformer, Father Mathew, recalled 
a wonderful era in the temperance reform, when " The 
whisky trade was almost annihilated, when penal convic- 
tions decreased about one-half between the years 1839 



IRELAND AND THE IRISH. 1 

and 1845, and capital sentences from 66 to 14. Orangeman 
and Papist, Whig and Tory, joined in praise of the noble 
Capuchin, and ovations were had wherever he went." 

St. Finnebar's Cathedral is named after its founder, who, 
in the seventh century, reared a monastery on the site of a 
pagan temple. St. Anne's steeple holds the famous bells of 
Shandon — Sean dun, or old fort. The poem of " Father 
Prout " is similar to the Latin rhymes beginning, 

Sabbata pango, 
Funera plango, 
Solemnia clango. 

"We stood beneath the lofty tower, and listened with de- 
light ; 

"dwelling 
On each proud swelling 
Of the belfry knelling 
Its bold notes free." 

Opposite is the butter storehouse, near which scores of un- 
washed Cork-onians stopped to stare at us as we stopped to 
star« at the steeple. 

Sunday's Well, bearing the date 1644, was full of in- 
terest. These holy wells, in quiet nooks, shaded by elm or 
sycamore, are numerous in Ireland. They are often walled 
or hooded over, and have shrines near by. Healing virtues 
are attributed to the waters. Southey has a ballad on the 
well of St. Keyne. The grounds of Queen's College, the 
Grand Parade and the Mardyke, an avenue of stately shade 
trees, were also visited. A few minutes' ride by rail brought 
us to 

BLARNEY CASTLE. 

Mr. Timothy Mahoney, brother of the poet just quoted, 
kindly took us in his carriage to his Tweed Mills, where 450 
persons are employed preparing the wool for cloths and for 
hose. He also secured our entrance to the castle, as we, 
through ignorance, had not taken the needed permit before 
leaving Cork. This ancient estate, the home of the Mac- 
Carty family for four hundred years, is full of picturesque 



8 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

beauty, with purling brooks decked with daffodil and lily ; 
groves of beeches, with gravel walks and shady bowers ; 
caves of bats and badgers, but above all, renowned for the 
Blarney stone, near the top of a donjon 120 feet high. Says 
Croker, "It is supposed to give to him who kisses it the 
privilege of deviating from veracity with unblushing 
countenance whenever it may be convenient." The Lord 
of Blarney duped Carew, the English governor, who besieged 
the place in 1602, hence the tradition. 

Our guide pointed out the stone, and a D.D., M.D., and 
Ph.D., devoutly got upon their knees and gave a fervent 
oscular salutation to the rock. The writer declined to unfit 
himself for the authorship of " Outdoor Life in Europe," 
by securing this dangerous gift, and so simply touched the 
stone and came away unanointed. After all, the " raal 
stone " is twenty feet below the summit, inaccessible, and 
bears a Latin inscription with the date 1446. The guide, 
in consideration of the silver shilling entrance fee, con- 
siderately locates these stones where they will do the most 
good, and so humors the visitor by pointing out the one 
which has the date 1V03. 

A sprinkling of the Shannon at Limerick, a few days 
after, secured to me the more desirable gift of "civil 
courage," which those waters, it is claimed, will impart to 
all who take a dip. 

An hour's walk about the neighborhood, picking ferns, 
studying flora, and feasting on the sequestered loveliness of 
the place, was followed by a relishable meal in a peasant's 
cottage. The quaint surroundings and pleasant words ex- 
changed will not be soon forgotten. 

THE KILLARNEY LAKES. 

The first night ashore was spent in this paradise of beauty. 
Mr. Spillane, Kenmare Place, to whom our party of four 
had been commended, gave us neat, comfortable quarters at 
reasonable rates — bed and breakfast three shillings. 



IRELAND AND TBE IRISH. 9 

other tilings in proportion. Private lodgings are to be 
preferred to a first-class hotel, where one impoverished 
victim told us that he found " it cost fourpence to open 
your mouth and tup'ence to shut it." 

The day we spent on the lakes was one of mingled sun- 
shine and showers. " Happy Jack " acted as guide, boat- 
man, and bugler. He was aided by his son, and his entv 
charge was but eight shillings for the company, the roum 
boat trip being twenty-eight miles. We had not the fear 
of Thackeray before us, who said that the man was an 
ass who attempted this circuit in a day. 

ROSS CASTLE 

was our point of eparture, a picturesque ruin, which re- 
called the remark made to one who, about to publish some 
views of Irish scenery, asked, " To whom shall I dedicate 
my prints ? " The reply was, " If your dedication is 
prompted by gratitude, no one deserves it more than 
Oliver Cromwell, whose cannon have made so many dilap- 
idated buildings for yo\V 

This castle, five hundred years ago, was the home of the 
lordly O'Donoghues, and now, it is said, every seven years 
one of the chiefs returns to earth and drives his milk-white 
steeds across the lake at sunrise, his castle being restored 
by enchantment the moment the sun appears above the 
woods. The tourist sees one of the white horses in the lime- 
stone rock, strangely cut out by nature's chiseling ; also a 
library of huge volumes, quite real in appearance and ar- 
rangement, the moss giving to the stony books a morocco 
binding, as it seems to dress the "round of beef," further 
on, with parsley. An old warrior's footprints, his boat up- 
side down, a mammoth cannon, and other curious deceits 
are pointed out. The red deer now look shyly out at us 
and disappear in the everglade ; the gentle plover and the 
eagle that loves the hills, pass by ; our happy rowers time 
their strokes with joyous song, and the " Prince of Wales " 
cuts through the water as gracefully as when he of royal 



10 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

blood, whose name it bears, was borne along by it amid 
these same enchanting scenes. 

" Sweet Innisf alien," of which Moore has written, charmed 
with its varied loveliness, but more than all on account of 
the lore of thirteen centuries which has thrown a beauty 
about it like the moss and ivy on its decaying ruins. We 
rambled about the crumbling cloisters, the gravej^ard, and 
chapel of the ancient monastery ; saw where the monks ate, 
and where they walked under the shade of holly, ash, and 
yew ; or looked out from the embowering arbutus tree of 
dark, shining leaf and saw the misty peaks of Glena and the 
Purple Mountains. Brief but copious showers were inter- 
spersed with sunshine. 

We entered the Gap of Dunloe, a romantic valley, at- 
tended by the usual escort of peasant girls, importunate 
venders of milk, of whisky, and of lamb's wool hose. 
On our return to Ross Castle our bugler blew blasts 
that woke the echoes among the hills, as we glided along 
under their lengthening shadows. We saw young Lord 
Kenmare fishing. Jack says that the Kenmare mansion 
cost £260,000, and has been honored by the occupancy of 
Her Majesty in 1861. On landing we were again sur- 
rounded by sellers of various bric-a-brac made of arbutus 
wood. The evening hours were enlivened by choice music 
by a youthful composer, the daughter of our host. The 
pouring rain prevented a morning visit to Muckross Abbey 
and other localities. A few hours distant is 

LIMERICK. 

A thousand years ago the Danish settlers founded this 
town, and ever since in story and in song it has occu- 
pied a most interesting place. A quiet stroll alone 
through its streets and suburbs, chatting with the people 
here and there ; a glance into shops and houses, castles and 
churches ; a pull across the waters of the noble Shannon, 
and an evening ride outside the ancient city walls as the 
vesper bells were ringing loud and clear from Mt. St. Vin- 



IRELAND AND THE IRISH. 11 

cent ; a lunch in the park, amid the pleasant shouts of 
romping children, and a visit to the chapel of the Domin- 
icans — these outline a pleasant visit at Limerick. 

Around the docks, among the barracks, amid the con- 
vents and monasteries, along the avenues of fashion and in 
the lower precincts of the city, an ever-changing picture of 
outdoor Irish life presented itself, full of suggestiveness. 
Here were loads of deal or lumber grown in the woods of 
Maine, and queer-looking carts with handles projecting a 
yard behind, as if the cart were to be carried by hand ; 
queerer-looking donkeys of Irish and of Spanish breed, 
the size of whose ears indicated prodigious intellect, if this, 
as some claim, be a gauge ; loads of peat fuel at the doors 
of the poor ; old dames hanging out their washing on the 
castle fence ; bare-legged female beggars in long pelisses, 
and blind fiddlers, sometimes called " door-scrapers." Here 
were country milkmaids, driving home again their rude 
carts, having filled their empty firkins with bread, and 
there were red-coated artillerymen loitering about the 
river banks. At the end of Thomond Bridge was the 
stone of "The Violated Treaty," on which, in 1691, was 
signed the surrender of Limerick to "William of Orange. 

ROADSIDE SKETCHES. 

Here are pictures from real life. See that peasant with 
her pack of peat or " paraters " on her back. Her dress 
is somewhat abbreviated, and there seems to be little dan- 
ger from corns on account of tight boots. Her hair drops 
over her forehead, giving the same air of stupidity to the 
face that her silly sisters ape, over the sea. Her child, in 
rags, sits by the roadside. He, too, has little superfluous 
clothing. Poor people, let us follow them home and see 
where they live. 

It is a wretched hovel. The walls are stone, the roof 
straw-thatched and ready to fall in. You see hundreds of 
these huts roofless and deserted, the agent of the lord who 
owns them having pulled down the yielding roof before it 



12 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

should crush the inmates. When occupied, a little window 
^■' lets in light, and a stump of a chimney shows where smoke 
ought to come out, if the people can afford a fire. The 
puddle and rubbish by the door help to sicken, as hunger 
does to weaken. I have eaten a relishable meal in a low, 
one-story stone cottage, where neatness and thrift pre- 
vailed ; where the bread and butter were sweet and the 
milk was creamy. But the condition of the peasant varies 
with the conduct of the proprietor. 

Ignorance, intemperance, and shiftlessness prevail, and 
consequent starvation. Under the blighting influence of 
superstition and serfdom in which many live, suffering must 
ensue. America once sent ships with food. They need it. 
They want " 'taters rather than agitators." We can at 
least pray that wise counsel may prevail in England, and 
that the enormous wealth that is held in the hands of a few 
may be justly and generously employed in the education 
and enfranchisement of those who are down-trodden, priest- 
ridden, and consequently either hopelessly despondent or 
the tool of demagogues who excite them to lawless violence 
and bloodshed. 

A talk with a toll-man on Wellesley Bridge revealed 
some of the unabated hostility towards the English, which 
since has flamed out in riots. In the evening, that is, about 
10 P.M., when it was too dark to write without a lamp, the 
piano at the hotel furnished entertainment. A guest, at- 
tracted by the music, came to me and requested " Yankee 
Doodle," saying that he was born in Ireland, but his sym- 
pathies were with America, where he had long lived. The 
old melody was played, evidently to his sincere gratifi- 
cation. 

" Look here, chambermaid, those sheets don't look very 
clean," I said, on entering the room designated for my 
night's repose. " Oh, yes ! " was the good-natured reply, 
*'we always change the sheets every fortnight ! '*'* "Ah! 
you do ? Then fourteen different persons can use the same 
sheets ? " " Every fortnight they are fresh and clean," was 



IRELAND AND THE IRISH. 13 

all the maid replied. The outside of that bed, rather than 
the inside, was used that night. Nevertheless the next day 
there was a lively cutaneous irritation. 

DUBLIN. 

Time has made notable changes in this, as in other places 
visited. Trams run in the streets, and numerous architect- 
ural improvements are seen. But no such weather was 
known in 1855. The papers said the mean temperature 
was about fifty-eight, decidedly " mean." The term " sum- 
mer " was but bitter irony for a season so cold and con- 
tinuously wet as was that of 1879. Again, I had the 
satisfaction of attending divine service at Christ Church 
Cathedral, and of reviving the memories of this ancient 
pile. While Canon Hartley was reading a little homily, or 
sermonette, sixteen minutes long, my thoughts recalled the 
history of other days. This edifice was begun 1038, and 
was founded on arches built by Danes for storage of mer- 
chandise. Epochs like the battle of Hastings, 1066 ; the 
Crusades, the discovery of America, the age of Elizabeth, 
of the Bourbons and the Stuarts, of the Huguenots and 
Puritans, the American Revolution, and later events passed 
rapidly through the mind and made the age and venerable- 
ness of the edifice to stand in impressive contrast with the 
brevity and transitoriness of human life. 

The verger told me that £350,000 had been spent in re- 
cent restorations, and that only the transept walls re- 
mained of the original structure. The music, as usual, was 
the most attractive feature of the service. At St. Pat- 
rick's, also, the cathedral singing was very elaborate. Two 
evening meetings I attended in the elegant structure be- 
longing to the Y. M. C. A., and also participated in a union 
sacramental service in the Baptist church, with Congrega- 
tional, Baptist, and Presbyterian clergy. Dr. Eccles very 
courteously took me to his residence at Rathmines, and 
desired my company on a week's excursion to Lough Neah, 
which pleasure could not be enjoyed, as other engagements 



14 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

were to be met. Similar courtesies extended by Professor 
Houghton of the University, Sir William Stokes and 
others during the session of the British Medical Associa- 
tion, 1887, were, for the same reason, declined. 

HOWTH CASTLE 

is reached in a few minutes by rail from Dublin. It is well 
worth a visit, if one is interested in baronial and ecclesias- 
tical antiquities, battle-fields, cromlechs and Druidic re- 
mains. This " Marathon of Ireland " attracts also the geol- 
ogist, naturalist, and marine artist, who find along the 
rocky bay and lofty promontory, among sepulchral cairn and 
ancient fortress, abundant materials for study and enjoy- 
ment. A half day remained for a tour of fifty miles to Ark- 
low through the charming County of Wicklow^ and the 
sweet vale of Avoca, about which Thomas Moore has 
thrown an ineffaceable charm: 

"Oh! the last rays of feeling and of life must depart, 
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart. 
There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet 
As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet." 

For miles the train ran by the rocky shore, with foam- 
ing breakers on one side and beautiful meadows on the 
other; while mountains, shadowy glens, dark tunnels, 
ruined monasteries and castles, gay seaside villas, and old 
farmhouses diversified the way. The white hawthorne, 
the scarlet gorse, the daisy and buttercup, the fields of 
ripening flax, and the deep velvet green of sward and 
hedge, combined to make the rural scenery of that June 
day delightful in the extreme. Nor were the people the 
least interesting to study in their varied aspects. When 
David Wilkie travelled this island he found a mine un- 
worked in his department of art. He found faces in which 
Velasquez, Murillo and Salvator Rosa would have delighted. 
So Scott saw, and sung of Ireland's charms; Croker, Carl- 
ton, Sullivan, Doyle, Hall and a score of other authors pre- 
sent engaging views of social life and old-time legends. / 



IRELAND AND THE IRISH. 15 

"The Seven Churches," built by St. Kevin, who was 
born in the year 498, form, perhaps, the most attractive 
feature of the antiquities of the Wicklow district. The 
ruins of an ancient city of learning remain, prominent 
among which is the Round Tower, one of the most perfect 
in Ireland. Some regard these towers as treasure houses, 
others as steeples or watch towers, but the probability is 
that they were bell towers. Tradition makes them the 
resort of pagan worship long before St. Patrick's day. 
The Druid climbed the top and watched the day dawn. 
At the first glimpse of the sun rising over the hills he cried 
"Baal " to each quarter of the heavens. The skylarks were 
the only signal that called the workmen who builded the 
Seven Churches. A beautiful blue-eyed maid was enam- 
ored of St. Kevin and begged to live by him, though only 
to lie at his feet. He sought relief by retiring to a stony 
nook, still pointed out, but as he woke, there stood the 
youthful tempter. Unlike St. Anthony, the saint clasped 
her, not in love, but in desperation, hurled her into the 
lake below, where she was drowned. 

Dashing on through woods of pine, of oak, and juniper, 
where leaping cascades and foaming rivers run, we reach 
Arklow, where the Cistercian monks founded a monastery 
600 years ago. The picturesque ruins of the castle of the 
Ormunds attracted my attention, and I sketched a view of 
the ivy-clad walls which Cromwell's cannon demolished in 
1649. The little village of Lissoy or Auburn is near Ath- 
lone, two or three hours' ride west from Dublin, and de- 
serves a visit by all who have read the "Deserted 
Village." 

CARLINGFORD BAY. 

Six days gave me a pleasant acquaintance with this de- 
lightful district. From Dublin the route leads through 
localities of special attractiveness to the scholar, the artist, 
and the antiquarian. The valley of the Boyne is one of 
the best agricultural districts in Ireland, and ancient his- 



16 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

torical castles, priories, and round towers abound as relics 
of olden time. The Skerries, Carlingford and Mourne 
mountains are prominent among the objects along the 
coast, also Drogheda and Dundalk. The Hill of Tara, 
where Irish kings once gathered and sweet minstrels made 
music in their ears, recalls the verses of Moore about 

" The harp that once through Tara's halls 
The soul of music shed." 

The coronation stone is now in Westminster Abbey. 
Mellifont Abbey, Danish and Druidic remains, and the 
battle-field of the Boyne deserve a visit. It happened to 
be the 189th anniversary, and as we crossed the stream an 
elderly man, who had studied the topographical facts of 
the battle, pointed some of them out to me. 

EOSSTEEVOE. 

The charming watering-places about Newry are easily 
reached by rail or carriage. If one has but little time, 
Rosstrevor will claim priority, for it combines almost every 
element of rural and marine scenery, and it is the favorite 
resort of the wealthy classes during the summer. Narrow- 
water Castle is on the road thither, and the legends of six 
hundred years invest its moldering walls with a somber 
interest. Here a jealous lord imprisoned his beautiful 
Spanish wife, who sat and wept in her wave-washed cell, 
as Bonnivard at Chillon, till grief " worked like madness 
in her brain." With lute in hand she sang her wild Iberian 
song, and the boatmen, as they passed the prison at even- 
ing, would hear her pensive voice 

" In sounds as of a captive lone, 
That mourns her woes in tongue unknown." 

Warrenport, with its villas, shady walks, and odorous 
gardens ; the Vale of Arno, the " Tempe of Ireland," with 
groves of sycamore and palm, pine and arbutus, and the 
encircling mountains of a grand amphitheater, arrest at- 
tention. A quiet stroll alone through the ancient church- 
yard ; a look at the elaborate Rosstrevor Cross and at the 



IRELAND AND THE IRISH. 17 

great Cloughmore on the mountain side, where Druids once 
worshiped in bygone ages, and a pleasant drive back to 
Newry at sunset will not soon be forgotten. The Carling- 
ford district is not only famous for its enticing natural 
scenery, but for its luscious oysters, as piquant and de- 
licious as ever were offered Neptune by Thetis and her 
maids. These are the special delight of epicures. We 
tasted none, but were offered at Rosstrevor for a sixpence 
a box of " Talmage Voice Lozenges." What next ? The 
solemn name of Edward Payson, a friend tells me, is worn 
in Southern States by not a few fast men, fast engines and 
fast horses. 

NEWET. 

The first mention of Newry is 900 b.c. Traditions of 
Ossian's heroes are numerous, and of the fierce sea kings 
830 A.D. A visit to the remains of the abbey and the yew 
trees connected with St. Patrick's memory gives new in- 
terest to the study of early monasticism in Ireland. The 
town was long ago lampooned by Dean Swift in his caustic 
couplet, 

" High church, low steeple, 
Dirty streets and proud people." 

Now put Thackeray's contradiction beside this, when he 
commends its " business-like streets, bustling and clean ; 
comfortable and handsome public buildings ; a sight of 
neatness and comfort exceedingly welcome to an English 
traveler," and its " plain, downright gentry." The hospi- 
table mansion of Mr. Henry Barcroft at the Glen was a 
welcome resting-place, as was also the home of Mr. John 
Grubb Richardson at Gilford. Mr. R, is widely known as 
a wealthy linen manufacturer and a practical Christian 
philanthropist.' The " model town " of Bessbeook will be 
his most enduring monument when he is here no more. 
Serus in coelum redeat. 

This place was established thirty -five years ago, and is 
now known all oyer the world for the " Bessbrook Spinning 



18 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

Mills," which in 1879 employed 2912 workmen, whose 
wages amounted to £58,000. The main building is 684 
feet long, and 749 power looms with 22,000 spindles weave 
eight miles of fabric a day or 2500 miles a year. A visit 
to these mills revealed many curious facts. In a table- 
cloth three and a half yards long there are 70 miles of 
linen yarn ; 35 tons of rough flax are consumed each week, 
1,800 tons in a year, making a movement in spinning every 
minute equal to a single thread 100 miles long, or 55,000 
miles in a day of nine and a half hours. In a year this line 
would encircle the globe 669 times, or stretch to the moon 
and back 34 times. There are 9000 tons of coal used 
yearly, and several loaded supply vessels may be seen at a 
time in Carlingford Bay, waiting on these industries. 
Other statistics copied from returns to government might 
be added to show the magnitude of this enterprise ; but the 
social and moral features are more notable. Bessbrook is a 
thorough temperance town, with no beer shops, pawn- 
shops, paupers, police, or jail. Intoxicating liquors are 
excluded, and total abstinence is encouraged by precept, 
example, and reward. Various religious denominations, 
Protestant and Roman Catholic, have their places of 
worship, and excellent school privileges are enjoyed. On 
one excursion to Moyallon House, the delightful residence 
of their revered friend and patron, there were upwards of 
1000 happy children gathered. During my stay one of 
these festivals occurred — a most joyous scene. Games 
were plaj'ed in a broad field, with leaping and swinging 
and foot-races, in which boys and girls participated. A 
race where the contestants were tied up in bags was the 
most ludicrous imaginable. There was marching, with 
banners waving in hand ; a good turnout of old, wrinkled 
dames with the ancient straw-bonnets and gowns of by- 
gone years ; songs and speeches ; a stuffing of fruit, buns, 
and jams ; and a flight of small balloons. 

In the Bessbrook school-rooms the rich and the poor 
meet together, bright merry-hearted children, The aver- 



IRELAND AND THE IBI8H. 19 

age attendance is 500, out of 619 enrolled. The studies 
range from A B C to Euclid. In the infant room there 
were 150, in nine rows of benches, rising one above the 
other. The children were so orderly and uniform as to 
look " like a sheet of postage stamps." Their calisthenic 
or movement songs were rendered with admirable time and 
tune. The smallest child was a little under three and the 
oldest seven years of age. There was good ventilation, 
and no " institutional odor " about the apartments. The 
excellent penmanship of the older boys was next examined, 
and then they answered my questions in history and geog- 
raphy. 

" What are some of the colonies of Great Britain ? " I 
asked. " Australia, India, United States — " " Hold on ! 
to-morrow is Fourth of July. It won't do to lay claim to 
Yankee-land just now ! " 

Hearty laughter followed, in which the blushing boy and 
mortified teacher joined. They concluded to substitute the 
word Canada for United States, so war was averted.* The 
Stars and Stripes were seen at my window the next morn- 
ing, and two beautiful children, subjects of the Queen, 
joined with me in exploding a grain or two of powder in 
honor of the day. 

Bessbrook Granite Works employ 160 workmen in three 



*A similar error was made by an English gentleman, who remarked 
to Rev. J. T, Headley, " Let me see, does New York belong to the 
Canadasyet?" He also quotes the remark of an English literary 
lady who said that she supposed the States would be very cool in 
summer on account of the winds blowing over the Cordilleras moun- 
tains! " Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton invited Garrison the philanthro- 
pist to breakfast, having never seen him. When introduced, he 
lifted both hands in astonishment, saying, ** I thought you were a 
black man! I have invited this company to see the black advocate 
of emancipation." 

A Boston gentleman recently dined in London with a wealthy and 
" highly educated " English family, every member of which was of 
the opinion that Boston was a Southern city, and had been the hot- 
bed of "rebel" sentiment during the war. 



20 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

quarries. Their pay roll is £7500 yearly. The polished 
spiral staircase of blue granite, with entrance steps 22 feet 
long, seen in the Town Hall, Manchester, is one of the spec- 
imens of their workmanship. Superintendent Flynn said 
that nowhere in America was he more courteously received 
than in Quincy, whose quarries he inspected. He found 
the hills there were stone, but the hearts were warm and 
responsive. His fine gray granite goes all over the world. 
In a word, Bessbrook is a place of remarkable interest, and 
a most suggestive example of what practical philanthropy 
can do. A more intelligent audience I seldom have had 
than gathered to hear a lecture on American Life. The 
opportunity to question the lecturer at the close was prompt- 
ly improved, and queries were proposed as to the Il^egro 
and Chinese problems, female education, the influence of 
college life on teetotal habits, and other matters of recent 
agitation. During this July visit my chamber was heated 
with a coal fire, and every night an uninvited but welcome 
bed-fellow was introduced in the shape of a jug of hot water! 
The torrid waves, of which American papers informed us, 
came nowhere near us till we reached Heidelberg. 

LONDONDERRY 

was of all places the most alluring in Ireland. The 
impression of Charlotte Elizabeth's " Siege of Derry " on 
my boyhood's imagination was vivid and ineffaceable. It 
is hard to describe the rush of emotions as one enters the 
Apprentice Gate which Bryan McAlister and his intrepid 
comrades closed, on that memorable seventh of December, 
1688, making " the maiden city "a sacred sanctuary; or 
climbs the lofty walls that for seven months shut in those 
to whom liberty of conscience was dearer than love of life ; 
or stands within the church-yard where their dust is piled up 
in a single mound of rich mold ; or, above all, as one sits 
in that old cathedral, where the valiant preacher-soldier 
Walker inspired the living, comforted the dying, and 
buried the dead. I had just read over again the story of 



IRELAND AND THE IBISH. 21 

the siege, of the domestic loves and neighborly acquaint- 
ances of the McAlisters ; of the unconquerable loyalty of 
the defenders and the fortitude of the uncomplaining 
martyrs, as one after another died by starvation ; of that 
moonlight night when Letitia and her mother met death 
while sleeping, being struck by a bomb that tore its mur- 
derous way through the roof, and of that tender burial 
scene in the cathedral, just before day-dawn, when through 
the shattered windows glared the red light of the fiery 
beacon on the cathedral roof, and staggering skeletons 
stood about the dead, one saying as he looked on it, 
" These came out of great tribulation"; another, "These 
were slain for the testimony of Jesus"; a third, "The 
noble army of martyrs praise thee ! " and a famished 
mother with a starving infant at her dry breast added, 
" They shall hunger no more," while a school-boy whispered 
in Latin his grateful tribute, 

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." 

Through the still air of that summer's morning two cen- 
turies ago, came shot and shell that scattered death and 
destruction, and red-hot cannon-balls that fired the houses 
through which they plowed their way. Cats, mice, dogs, 
and horses were devoured by the people in their extremity, 
yet they threatened death to any traitor who proposed 
surrender. Looking from the tower seaward, the thrilling 
scene came before my imagination when the ships of Wil- 
liam bearing succor came up in sight of Deny. Flags 
were waved by men who were so weak as to reel under 
the weight of them, and prayer and shout went up together 
to the Lord of Hosts. The aged mother of Bryan had 
been carried up to the church battery to die. With her 
eye glazing in death she descried the laden vessels in the 
distance. Lifting her emaciated hands to heaven she 
cried, " Lord, I have lived to pray, I come to praise thee ! " 
and sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. The shell sent into the 
city by the enemy, containing terms of surrender, is seen 



22 OUT-DOOR LIFE m EUROPE. 

in the vestibule of the cathedral. The mounds and monu- 
ments, the walls and cannon are all invested with romantic 
interest, as mementoes of a struggle which had a marked 
influence on English liberty. 

The Londonderry of to-day is not without interest, but 
it was the historic Derry I came to see. A little time, 
however, was spent with Rev. R. Sewall, a resident Con- 
gregational pastor, in looking about the town, and an even- 
ing was spent in listening to a Synodic sermon before a R. 
P. Conference. The venerable preacher having tasked our 
patience a full hour, at length reached the welcome word 
" Lastly ! " for which we all had been watching as they 
who watch for the morning. But he didn't stop ! 
^'' Finally^'* followed, but he didn't mean it, for, having 
enlarged under that head, he then said, " In conclusion," 
which exasperatingly opened other exhortations with 
" first," " second," and so on. My patience was exhausted ! 
After all these positive assurances, " Lastly, Finally, In 
conclusion," the man began a new theme entitled, "A 
word to the members of the church ! " I took my hat and 
took my leave. He may be talking still, for aught of proof 
to the contrary. There never was a better exhibition of a 
" Saint's pei*severance." 

THE giant's causeway. 

It is worth seeing, though Dr. Johnson, or somebody 
else, has said it is not worth " going to see." Having paid 
a half-crown each, the price from Portrush to the Cause- 
way and back, eight of us mounted an open jaunting car. 
The distance each way is seven miles, and the scenery 
along the trendings of the rocky shore is most command- 
ing. But didn't it rain ? " Pour " is the word for that 
Irish deluge. I had always favored " sprinkling," and 
every day for six weeks after leaving New York was 
sprinkled by watery skies, but this day we thought the 
thing was a little overdone. 

DuNLUCE Castle was passed, the grandest and most 



IRELAND AND THE IRISH. 23 

gloomily romantic relic of the old sea-kings in Europe, 
according to Sir John Manners. He says that there is no 
castle on the Rhine, or elsewhere, comparable to it in deso- 
late, awe-inspiring grandeur. " How the towers and wall 
on the seaward side were built, I can not divine. What 
numbers of masons and builders must have fallen into that 
gloomy sea before the last loophole was pierced ! It has 
been the scene of many strange occurrences, and the tra- 
ditions connected with it would fill a volume." The 
isolated rock on which it stands is 120 feet high, and the 
chasm between it and the headland is passed by means of 
a natural arch and draw-bridge. The superstitious peas- 
ants still hear the wailing of a Banshee in a vaulted cell 
on the eastern side whenever death approaches any one of 
the Antrims. It is built of columnar basalt, the polygonal 
sections being clearly seen. The sea has gnawed out vast 
caverns beneath it, through which wind and wave roar or 
moan ceaselessly. 

A waterproof had kept me tolerably dry during the ride, 
but a walk of a mile or more must be taken to see the 
Chimney Tops — battered by the Spanish Armada, mistaken 
for the towers of Dunluce Castle — the Giant's Organ, Pulpit, 
Theater, Loom, Punch Bowl, Bagpipes, and other fanciful 
objects. The wind rose, and the rain beat down upon us 
so vehemently that for a while our guide directed us to 
huddle together and squat under two or three umbrellas 
till the storm passed. He had received his shilling from 
each, and the rain did not trouble him. The barefooted 
aborigines also put in an appearance, each loaded with 
specimens of crystals and fossils. With monotonous volu- 
bility they repeated over and over the curious refractions 
and reflections of the stone. Our reflections were decid- 
edly curious. A New York surgeon, Dr. C, succeeded 
at last in getting our guide to step along a little more 
lively and to omit large portions of the geological 
lingo which he had so faithfully committed to mem- 
ory. 



24 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

'' Gentlemen ! here is tlie only triangular stone out of 
these 47,000 ! The polygonal — " 

" Now, now — that's enough, that's enough ! call her 
triangle^ as O'Connell said to the woman in Billingsgate ; 
there's nothing worse." 

Our ride back to Portrush was sunny and pleasant. 
Scotland was seen across the blue waters. From the rail- 
way carriage, just before sunset, I had a glimpse of the 
bright bosom of Lough Neagh. This is twenty miles long. 
But three lakes in Europe surpass it in extent. Aside 
from its attractions to the angler, the sportsman, and the 
artist, its legends give a charm to the lake. In the reign 
of the Stuarts the sick were said to be cured by its 
waters. The Ulster lake is said to have turned wood 
to stone. The old chronicler tells, too, of the sunken 
town seen beneath the placid surface with " ye rounde 
towers and hyghe shaj^en steeples and churches of ye 
land." I regretted that I had not been able to ac- 
cept the invitation to spend a week by the shores of 
this beautiful Irish lake, a guest of my Dublin 
friend. 

BELFAST. 

It is a new and prosperous place. True, Spenser speaks 
of it as having been a " good town " in 1315, yet a century 
ago there were less than 15,000 population, and many of 
the houses were straw-thatched cottages. During the 
Rebellion in America, the linen trade of Belfast made 
marked advance. The public buildings are attractive. A 
ride out to Queen's College, a cordial greeting from the 
venerable President, and a call on the Y. M. C. A., will 
be remembered with lively satisfaction. At 8 p.m. 
I went aboard a Glasgow steamer, and found a party 
of Boston friends on their way to Scotland and the 
Continent, belonging to Prof. Tourjee's educational 
excursion. 



SCOTLAND. 25 

CHAPTER II. 

Scotland. 
" There is magic in the sound ! " — Flagg. 

It is so. And why ? How is it that " CaledoDia, stern 
and wild," occupies so large a space in the thought of the 
scholar and the tourist ? It is not her territorial extent. 
It is not the picturesqueness of her scenery. It is not her 
political importance or her material wealth. Is it not 
because Scotland has been the battle-ground of truth, the 
arena of moral conflicts, the birthplace of noble ideas? 
" From the bonnie highland heather of her lofty summits, 
to the modest lily of the vale, not a flower but has blushed 
with patriot blood. From the foaming crest of Solway to 
the calm polished breast of Loch Katrine, not a river or 
lake but has swelled with the life-tide of freemen ! " 

From my Boston boyhood,when these words of Flagg 
were familiar sounds on declamation day, and Scott's his- 
toric word-pictures of Scotland were my delight, I had 
longed to visit this land of poetry and romance. 

EDINBURGII. 

A student in the University kindly introduced me to 
private quarters near by, comfortably furnished. A quiet 
sitting-room and chamber adjoining, for myself and a young 
man traveling with me on my first visit to Scotland, were 
oifered to us — service, gas and boots included — for the sum 
of four shillings each, weekly! A very weakly charge, we 
thought. Fruit or meat was brought to us as ordered, and 
each item noted at cost, as Id., cup of tea; 2d. boiled Qgg\ 
4d., basket of strawberries, etc. Only one dish failed. One 
morning I rang for our good woman and asked her, as she 
entered, to prepare us some Milk Toast. Nodding assent 
she retired, but soon came back, evidently bothered, to get 
once more the order of her guests. After a while she ap- 



26 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

peared with a pitcher of sour buttermilk ! We stared at 
the pitcher and she stared at us, who both burst into a 
hearty laugh. " Milk toast! " was again ejaculated. 
Good Mrs. Duncan now owned up that she never had heard 
of it. I told her that it was not milk, still less sour milk, 
least of all sour buttermilk, but that Milk Toast meant 
toasted bread, browned and buttered and battered, as any- 
Yankee housekeeper knows. But as the morning was pass- 
ing and Mrs. D. wished to retire to blush, we excused her 
from any further service at that time. 

King Arthur's Seat, 822 feet high, was the first place 
visited, in order to get our bearings. From this grand coro- 
nation chair is had one of the most varied and historically 
interesting panoramas that Europe has to offer. At your 
feet is the Salisbury Crags, St. Anthony's Well, the site of 
Effie Dean's cottage; beyond. Cow Gate, the Ancient Castle, 
St. Giles, the Home of Knox, the Gardens, the New City, 
and the shining waters of the Firth of Foy. The lofty 
Bass Rock, rising sheer 400 feet out of the sea, is remem- 
bered as the prison of persecuted Covenanters. The ruins 
of Tantallon's Towers, sung in *'Marmion," the Ochil and 
Pentland Hills, and even the Highlands, 80 miles away, are 
seen in favorable weather. It is a picture of beauty that 
a third of a century has not effaced. Nor have I forgotten 
the sound of a distant bagpipe, that then came murmuring 
through the quiet air ; the ruddy faces of romping children 
who climbed the mountain with me, their fine complexion 
set off by the bright tartan that clothed them ; the venture- 
some descent we made over a rocky precipice — horresco 
ref evens — and the rambles afterwards about Old Holyrood 
and the Palace Gardens, where the apple-tree and sun-dial 
of Mary Stuart specially interested us. 

The ancient relics within the palace need not be de- 
scribed, or even catalogued. Though watched, we plucked 
a bit of hair from Lord Darnley's sofa, and plaster from 
Mary's room, where Rizzio was murdered on that fateful 
Saturday evening, March 9, 1566. The dreadful stains 



SCOTLAND. 27 

were viewed with becoming gravity, and we expressed no 
doubt as to their genuineness. That they are dim may be 
attributed to the rash experiment attempted by an itiner- 
ant pedler of erasive soap, who, it is said, once visited 
Holyrood. He was of a practical rather than of a roman- 
tic turn, and expressed surprise that ink spots or any other 
kind of spots should be allowed to permanently deface a 
royal floor otherwise clean. Quickly came out a bottle 
from his capacious pocket ! Kneeling — though not for 
adoration — the heartless iconoclast began to scour away 
the sacred stains, which for centuries had been so rever- 
ently guarded. The good woman in charge, " seeing the 
hope of her gains " about to disappear, protested against 
the sacrilege, but the ruthless wretch regarded not her 
tongue, nor did he cease till he felt across his nether parts 
blows from that other weapon which a woman wields in 
the activities and emergencies of domestic life. 

The Marian controversy has been long and sharp. With- 
out opening it afresh, one can justly admire the talents of 
the beautiful queen whose tragic story is familiar to all, 
and which is made all the more vivid to the imagination by 
a visit to Holyrood. Here is her last prayer : 

" O Domine Deus, speravi in Te ! 
O caremi Jesu, nunc libera me. 
In dura catena, in misera poena, 

Desidero Te. 
Languendo, gemendo, in genuflectendo 
Adoro, imploro, ut liberes me." 

Those were dreary days when Mary lived, and darker 
ones for Scotland followed. Between 1661 and 1688 there 
were 18,000 imprisoned, executed, or in other ways were 
subjected to violent persecutions for conscience sake. The 
murder of Margaret Wilson at Solway, the slaughter of 
400 at Bothwell bridge, and other tragic scenes, invest 
localities throughout Scotland with something of the sad 
interest that clings to Ireland. 

Of the charms of Edinburgh, in a historic, scenic, or 



28 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

literary point of view, a volume might be written. Inter- 
views with some of her honored citizens ; sermons from 
divines like Candlish, Alexander, Bonar and White ; a visit 
to the infirmaries where Syme and other eminent surgeons 
were then busy ; investigations among some of the wjmds 
and closes in company with a medical man, a graduate of 
Yale College ; a ramble around the Castle, rich in legends ; 
a ride to 

EOSLIN CHAPEL, 

and a quiet stroll alone through " the caverned depths of 
Hawthornden," the hiding-place of hunted fugitives in the 
days of Scottish martyrdom — each of these might form a 
chapter. 

Then there is the valley of the Tweed, with Dryburgh, 
Abbotsford and Melrose ; the homes and haunts of poets 
and " auld rhymers," like Thomas of Earlstone, crowded 
with objects that delight the eye, while they keep aglow 
the memory and imagination ! IN'ever can the impressions 
grow dim of an evening visit to " St. David's shrine," where 
Cistercian monks worshiped in the twelfth century, and 
around whose ruins art, poetry and romance have thrown 
such enduring charms. 

MELKOSE. 

The minster bell slowly tolled the hour of nine. The 
day had passed and the long summer twilight of Scotland 
was slowly deepening into night as the porter opened his 
gate to my call and bade me enter. He saw that I wished 
to be alone, and did not follow. What a luxury is solitude 
in such a spot. The empty chatter of a crowd of sight- 
seers cheapens and makes insipid the pleasures of such a 
sacred hour. Architecturally, the ivy-clad shrine was pic- 
turesque. The choir and transept ; the magnificent south- 
ern window, divided by four muUions and interlacing 
curves of graceful beauty ; the carvings, columns, pinna- 
cles, tombs and roofless chapel — all were studied and ad- 



SCOTLAND. 29 

mired. But it was more than these ruins which were seea 
at that evening hour — 

" When distant Tweed was heard to rave, 
And owlets hoot o'er the dead man's grave." 

Leaning against the cloister door, I seem to see once 
more the solemn procession enter the shrine, with measured 
step and chanted song ; again, through echoing aisles there 
came — 

" "With sable cowl and scapular, 
And snow-white stoles in order due. 
The holy Fathers, two and two — 
And the bells tolled out their mighty peal 
For the departed spirit's weal ! " 

The air seemed charged with voices, that swelled in pen- 
sive wail their " Dies irae, dies ilia," till crowded crypt and 
answering arch reverberated with the sweetly solemn song 
of seven hundred years ago. 

THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS. 

" Aren't your legs cold ? " said I to a Highlander 
beside me on the boat that took us from Edinboro to Stir- 
ling. " I dare say they were at first, but I've got used to 
it." He evidently regarded trowsers only fit for feeble 
folk. A lusty fellow with them on would be a panta-loonatic 
in his eyes. 

From Alloa to Stirling by water is a distance of twelve 
miles, just double that of an air line. " The Links " abound 
in varied beauty. The sunny Ochil hills beyond; the corn- 
fields and meadows along the valley 

" Where Devon, sweet Devon, meandering flows;" 

ruins of Roman fortresses ; smiling villages and lordly- 
domains diversified the scenery on either hand. 

Stirling was a favorite among royalty. Well it might 
be " Summa summarum," as a German tourist puts it. 
Rising betimes, I climbed to the top of the castle hill. I 



30 OUT-DOOB LIFE IN EUROPE, 

stood on the esplanade to see the guard relieved, and 
repeated Scott's lines — 

" At dawn the towers of Stirling rang 
With soldier step and weapon clang, 
While drums with rolling note foretell 
Relief to weary sentinel." 

The Douglas room is a sadly interesting room, defiled by 
James 11. , who murdered here in 1452 the Earl of Douglas 
when invited hither under the protection of a safe-conduct. 
In the vale below I recalled a scene in Waverly, and imi- 
tated the indignant leader of Balmawhapple by firing a 
pistol, aimed at the frowning bastions 400 feet above. The 
dazzling gleam of the sentry's bayonet as he paced along 
the lofty rampart at that sunrise hour is almost as fresh in 
memory to-day as on that July morning, 1855 ; so, too, the 
exhilaration of the day's ride through the Trossacks, over 
the Lakes and up the Clyde to Glasgow. 

At 9 A.M., the jolly driver, clad in a red coat with brass 
buttons, mounted his box, and away w^e went, four inside 
and fourteen of us outside. Our speed was nine miles an 
hour, almost too rapid for one fully to take in the romance 
and beauty of this enchanted land. Holding his reins in 
one hand and the " Lady of the Lake " in the other, the 
driver recited the description of each notable locality. The 
odorous air was scented with violet and eglantine ; the 
hazel, hawthorn and " the primrose pale " fringed our wind- 
ing way. At Coilantogle Ford we were told of the. combat 
between Fitz James and Roderick Dhu. Then came 
Vennachar and " the wide and level green," where naught 
could "hide a bonnet or a spear "; and further on w^e saw 
the rock where the warrior's challenge, " Come one, come 
all ! " was flung in the face of Clan Alpine's braves. Now 
appeared the bright, breezeless waters of Loch Achray, 
with Benledi's purple peak beyond, and soon Loch Katrine's 
sequestered loveliness burst on our view. The lark and 
thrush and blackbird answer still from bush and brake, as 
when Ellen skimmed the lake in other days. 



SCOTLAND. 31 

A steamer took us ten miles to the district of the Mac- 
Gregors, through which I passed on foot, five miles to Loch 
Lomond. The goats pastured on the slope of Benvenue, 
the eagle soared above its summit, the heron stalked among 
the reeds. There was a rugged look, a loneliness and pen- 
sive hue to the scenery about the haunts of Rob Roy and his 
clan. The hut was pointed out where Helen, his wife, was 
born. At Inversnaid I gave a half -hour to a visit among 
the wild solitudes in which Wordsworth has laid the scenes 
of his "Highland Girl." The "glen of sorrow," where 
200 were slain by the MacGregors, and 80 youths also who 
were attracted thither by curiosity ; Inch Cruin, a former 
retreat for lunatics ; Lennox, Butturich and Balloch castles, 
were seen from the steamer's deck as we passed over the 
shadowy waters of this " Pride of the Highland Lakes." 

The dusky shadows clothed Dumbarton's lofty towers as 
I passed them. They stand 560 feet above the Clyde and 
recall the hero Wallace once imprisoned there, whose huge 
sword is still shown. The evening lamps were lighted ere 
we reached populous Glasgow, and their cheerful glow in 
many a mansion or castle along the river, the excursion 
boats and other gay craft about us, and the instrumental 
music on board our steamer contributed to make that mid- 
summer night one that can never fade from memory. 

GLASGOW AND DR. CHALMEES. 

Tourists find this busy metropolis a center from which 
tours are planned in every direction. Its stirring industries 
will interest the business man ; its University and Museum, 
the scholar ; the annals of thirteen centuries connected 
with the Cathedral, the antiquary. Glasgow, too, is intel- 
lectually an opulent center. It has been the birthplace or 
home of many eminent men, among whom are remembered 
Adam Smith, Thomas Reid, Thomas Campbell, Sir Colin 
Campbell, Sir John Moore, Chalmers, Balfour and Ward- 
law. 

Changes are noticed year by year in civic life here as on 



32 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

the Continent. For instance, in the vehicles. The 
" noddies " of Glasgow, like the *' minbus " of Edinboro, 
each a one-horse vehicle for four, are supplanted by the 
tram-cars. Hotel life since 1855 has taken on changes in 
this city of, near half a million. Architectural and other 
improvements are seen, as in the new University, the 
Necropolis and West End Park, on the banks of the Kelvin, 
environed by elegant residences. 

During his ministry in Glasgow, Dr. Chalmers delighted 
to get away, he said, from the heavy air of the smoky city, 
and spend much of his time in the suburbs. Some of those 
wonderful astronomical discourses were written " in a small 
pocket-book with borrowed pen and ink, in strange apart- 
ments, where he was liable every moment to interruption." 
Dr. Wardlaw gives a graphic description of the effect of 
those pulpit efforts at Glasgow in the winter of 1818. 
His Thursday forenoon lectures " crammed Tron Church 
with fifteen or sixteen hundred hearers. His soul seemed 
in every utterance. It was thrilling, overwhelming." 
Students deserted their classes at the University, and busi- 
ness men their shops, to be present. The common people 
forgot their dislike of a " paper minister," as one who used 
notes was called. A Fifeshire dame was asked how she, 
who hated reading, could be so fond of the Glasgow 
preacher. With a shake of the head, she said : *' Nae 
doubt ; but iVsfell readin^ though " {Fell, keen, powerful). 
Dr. Hanna says that once in an open-air service Chalmers' 
sheets blew away, and great efforts were made by the 
people to find them. He assured them that, being written 
in short-hand, they could be used by nobody else. 

AGlasgo.w tramp once called at his study, when Chalmers 
was in the thick of morning thought. The intruder pre- 
tended to be in great distress of mind as to the grounds of 
Christianity, and particularly as to the statement that 
Melchisedek had neither father nor mother. He seemed to 
receive great light and comfort as the patient preacher 
minutely cleared up the matter. Then the beggar added 



SCOTLAND. 33 

that he was needing money, and asked Dr. Chalmers to 
help him that way. The trick aroused the wrath of the 
minister like a tornado. He drove the rogue into the street, 
exclaiming, " Not a penny ! not a penny ! It's too bad, 
too bad. And to haul in your hypocrisy upon the shoulders 
of Melchisedek ! " 

Seven miles out of Glasgow are the ruins of Cruickston 
Castle, where Mary and Darnley spent their honeymoon. 

Paisley stands on the site of a Roman camp, and has an 
Abbey, founded 1163, whose moldering crypts contain 
the dust of two Scottish queens. Prof. Wilson, " Chris- 
topher North," and his brother the naturalist ; Tannahill, 
the lyric poet ; Motherwell, and other literarj'- celebrities, 
were born here. I passed by the waters that in 1835 sucked 
out the sweet life of that weaver poet who, when only 35, 
burned his poems, and, like Chatterton, sought refuge in 
suicide. It was interesting to notice among the grocers 
that the American custom prevailed of coaxing people with 
presents. Granulated sugar was marked threepence. Ink- 
stands and other glassware were given away. 

Near Irvine I saw the lofty turrets of Eglinton Castle, 
where the famous tournament came off in 1839, in which 
Louis Napoleon participated, and at Kilwinning, of free- 
masonry fame, the ruined abbey, a fine specimen of the 
first pointed style. 

THE BURXS DISTRICT. 

A shower had just passed, and the bright afternoon sun- 
shine spread a mantle of beauty over grove and meadow 
as our carriage rolled away from the railway at Ayr 
towards the Bridge of Doon, Alloway Kirk and the birth^ 
place of Robert Burns. The fir, the larch, the beech, and 
the willow by the roadside dripped with the sparkling rain- 
drops, and the sweetness of new-mown hay was in the air. 
Not, indeed, as fast as Tam O'Shanter urged his gray mare 
Meg in his flight from Cuttysark and the witches, but quite 
fast enough for us^ did James, the driver, take uS to the 



34 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

lowly cottage which has drawn so many eager visitors to it 
from all parts of the globe, as the autograph books testify. 
No admission fee is exacted, as at Stratford on Avon, but 
each is expected to purchase souvenirs, on which the profits 
are ample. At the Monument we saw the Bible which 
Burns gave his Highland lassie, Mary Campbell. She was 
a servant at Castle Montgomery. After a long courtship 
the lovers were about to be ui>ited, when " Death's untimely 
frost " nipped the sweet flower which Burns so fondly cher- 
ished. Out of a heart surcharged with grief gushed those 
tender soliloquies of yearning love which have made his 
name immortal. Looking at that lover's gift you think, 
too, of that other maid, his future wife, with whom he had, 
during Mary's life, become too intimate ; their marriage 
and instant separation by her wrathful father ; sorrow 
after sorrow, till in 1796 the poet dies, leaving four help- 
less little ones and " a wife who, whilst her husband's 
corj)se was being carried down the street, was delivered of 
a fifth child." This " patient Jean Armour " survived him 
38 years, comfortably cared for and universally respected. 
Their last son, William, died 1872, in his 82d year. 

Principal Shairj^ says that Burns was " the supreme mas- 
ter in genuine song, the greatest lyric singer the world has 
known." But he justly adds that these deep sympathies 
and royal intellectual gifts were dominated by fierce pas- 
sions, hard to restrain by a will weak and irresolute. 
" Some claim honor for him not only as Scotland's greatest 
poet, but as one of the best men she has produced. Those 
who thus try to canonize Burns are no true friends to his 
memory." This checkered life has given to the haunts 
along " the Winding Ayr " a fascinating interest to all 
lovers of Scottish song. So is it everywhere in this wild 
but beautiful land. Indeed, the spell of the Caledonian 
muse is almost universal. Allan Cunningham says that it 
is felt wherever British feet have led, from the snows of 
Siberia to the sands of Egypt, on the shores of the Ganges, 
the Ilissus, and the Amazon ^ Songs followed the bride to 



SCOTLAND. 35 

her chamber, the dead to their grave ; the sailor to sea, 
the soldier to war. The rich, he says, sung in the parlor, 
the menial in the hut ; the shepherd on the hillside, and 
the maid milking her ewes. The weaver sung moving his 
shuttle, the mason squaring the stone, the smith at his 
forge, the reaper in harvest, the rower at his oar, the fislier 
dropping his net, and the miller as the golden meal gushed 
warm from the mill. * 

The rise of elegiac verse, of heroic and other forms of 
poetry, and the relation of each to the varied scenery of 
Highland and Lowland, form an inviting theme. The 
poems of Ossian, the blind old Homer of Celtic song, left 
impressions on my boyhood fancy tender yet melancholy, 
romantic but lurid, like many of the pictures of Dore. 
When I came to wander on foot through a portion of the 
Highland district, over barren heaths, along caverned 
depths, mid echoes and wailings of wind or wave, it was 
easy to see, as Blair and Beattie have taught us to find, the 
peculiar elements of their shadowy mystery, the wild rug- 
gedness and warlike terror. How much James Macpher- 
son interpolated is a question. Whether, indeed, they were 
or were not literary forgeries, like those of Chatterton at 
Bristol, is now of little moment. Fifty years ago portions of 
the Ossianic translations were my reading lessons in the 
" American First Class Book," and left their undying im- 
pression on thought and imagination. The teacher, as well 
as the book, was " first class," and the recital of the lines was 
a process of engraving as with a diamond's point ; an argu- 
ment, by the way, for the superiority of English classics, in 
their formative influence on youthful taste, over much of the 
insipid, ephemeral literature of this telegraphic age. That 
Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Addison, Sterne, Jeffrey, Wil- 
son and Scott were my early guides I owe to Boston schools 
in general and to Rev. John Pierpont in particular. 

STAPFA AND ION A. 

From Glasgow by steamer to Oban is a day's trip. 



36 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

Another day gives you a glance of the Hebrides, and an 
opportunity to spend two hours on these islands, amid 
scenes of surpassing interest. Hardly 2ii\y place in Europe 
is remembered with more satisfying pleasure. Yet few 
American tourists turn aside from the beaten track to visit 
these quiet isles. Their summer is too short, and the Con- 
tinent calls louder. 

It was not till after seeing lona that I read the mono- 
graph of the Duke of Argyll. This is a prose poem, and 
paints a picture of Columba's age, when Justinian and 
Belisarius lived, and when races on the march, like waves 
on the beach, swept over the face of Europe. Darkness 
rested on the ancient centers of art, of science, and of law. 
What is now England had hardly ceased to be a Roman 
colony, harassed, indeed, by the ruthless incursions of a 
pagan race, but yielding not to Saxon sway till after 
Columba's death. It was an age when the battles of ortho- 
doxy won oy Athanasius, Ambrose, and Augustine had 
given form to that discipline and belief which was finally 
accepted by Latin and Teutonic people, and when St. 
Benedict had begun to exert a molding influence on early 
nionasticism. 

Having thus grouped the salient historic features of 
Columba's age, His Grace outlines the physical features 
of that rocky islet which received the Celtic saint a.d. 
563, and soon became in sacred learning " the light of the 
western world." From lona the abbot and his monks went 
forth on missionary journeys among the heathen Picts, and 
to which chieftains came to be blessed, the red-handed men 
of blood to be pardoned, and kings to be ordained. Hither 
was brought in shrouded galleys the dust of the titled and 
the crowned of earth, to rest on " Columba's happy isle." 
Landing at " the Bay of Martyrs," the funeral pageant was 
marshaled near a green knoll, still pointed out and known 
in the native tongue as the Mound of Burden. Here the 
bier rested and the ceremonial was arranged. Then the 
w^ailinof coronach echoed alon^ the Street of the Dead, as 



/ SCOTLAND. 37 

the clansmen of tbe chief or the vassals of the lorJ took up 
the corpse and bore it to its burial. For three centuries 
after Columba's death the sacred isle was frequently rav- 
aged by the wild Northmen. These savage pirates demol- 
ished church and monastery, and murdered the monks with- 
out mercy. From the 13th to the lOtli century, lona, or Hy, 
or Icolmkill, as it is also called, was the seat of a Romish 
nunner}^, finally broken up by the Scotch Parliament in 
1560. 

The day of our visit was one of dreamy, halcyon quiet, 
and the broad Atlantic stretched westward before our gaze 
like a smooth floor of shining sapphire, bordered north- 
Avard by the larger Hebridean isles, and southward by the 
Torranan Rocks, " in barren grandeur piled." Our steamer 
came to anchor, and a red life-boat put us ashore first at 
Staffa. The stillness of the noonday hour was only 
broken by the quiet throb of the tide or the queru- 
lous cry of the gull, as if to rebuke our intrusion. 
Scott, in his "Lord of the Isles," tells of this seques- 
tered spot, where "the cormorant has found, and the 
shy seal, a quiet home "; where God has built himself 
a minster, as if "to shame the temples decked by skill 
of earthly architect," and where, in ebb and swell, the 
solemn sea 

" From the high vault an answer draws, 
In varied tone, prolonged and high. 
That mocks the organ's melody." 

A score of us climbed up the moist and slippery rocks 
and walked into Fingal's Cave. It is about 32 feet broad, 
66 feet high, and 227 feet deep. Neither pen nor pencil^ 
can do justice to the view presented, still less to the over- 
powering sensations awakened, as, in that vast cathedral, 
we reverently paused and lifted that ancient melody which i^ 
has no equal, " Old Hundred," to the words, " Praise God, 
from whom all blessings flow ! " Tuneful voices united in 
the strain, which swelled and reverberated through the 
lofty arches and dim recesses with a depth and mellowness, 



38 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EURO^PF 

a majesty and grandeur indescribable ! It was a fit anthem 
and fitly rendered. 

The Gaels called this the musical cave. Here in olden 
time may have been heard the hymn of the Druids; tlie 
praj^er of monk or nun, " lona's saints"; the shout of the 
Roman, or the cry of the sea-pirates, echoing through the 
pillared vestibule. The rude peasant still hears the voice of 
Fin gal's ghost in the sob of the wind and the roar of the 
wave. The weather was exceptionally favorable for our 
visit. For the first time in the season had the distant 
"Paps of Jura," 3000 feet high, appeared in the southern 
horizon. In its calm beauty the day was very like the 19th 
of August, 1847, when Her Majesty and the princes entered 
the cave in a royal barge. Rarely is this possible. Excur- 
cursion steamers frequently are obliged to pass by without 
effecting a landing. 

From Fingal's Cave our guide took us across the island 
to enjoy the grand prospect from the highest cliffs, and to 
examine the geological curiosities. The island is tunneled 
by numerous caves. We saw the " Wishing Chair," had 
a glimpse of the Cormorant's Cave, which is broader than 
Fingal's, and about the same depth ; of Clamshell 
Cave, with singular curved basaltic pillars, and Boat Cave, 
the roof of which is 112 feet high, the height of an aver- 
age church spire. As on the lofty chalk cliffs of the Isle 
of Wight, I lay down and peered over the dizzy edge, 
watching the wash of the waves and the graceful gyrations 
of the white-winged petrel. The shrill whistle of the boat- 
swain interrupted our meditations. The red barge took us 
to the steamer, and in half an hour we came to anchor off 
loNA, and were again rowed ashore. The official guide, 
furnished by the proprietor, the Duke of Argyll, meets 
you at the rude pier. He has a uniform of blue flannel. 
He sees to it that the ruins are " kept in repair " ! Al- 
though the population is but 260, there are two Protestant 
denominations, Free and Established. Both are firmly 
established. You will also find a good show of children, 



SCOTLAND. SO 

These juvenile saints issue from the forty huts that line 
the single " Straide " (street), and hasten, with Hebridean 
instinct, to prey — prey upon the pilgrim's wallet. Offer^fii* 
them a sixpence. Will the}^ not give you a stone ? Yes, 
load you with dolomite or felspar, or curious shells or gray 
lichens. The sonnets of Wordsworth tell of these youth- 
ful traders in 

" wave-worn pebbles, pleading on the shore 
Where once came mouk and nun with gentle stir. 
Blessings to give, news ask, or suit prefer." 

Lately, His Grace has only allowed these bare-legged 
lonians to pay their devotions — to your purse — at a des- 
ignated place, the straight and narrow way through 
which you must pass to the Nunnery. Here they range 
themselves, like hungry hackmen, behind a railing. Little 
chubby hands or cracked saucers hold out to you treasures ^ 
gleaned from cliff or beach. Of one sweet-faced child, 
whose timid whisper was almost lost in the more urgent 
j^lea of her companions, I bought a handful of shells and 
green stones that promise the possessor exemption from 
disease and harm. 

Now you pass into the Nunnerj^, and sit on the stone 
seats where " holy virgins " prayed six hundred years ago, 
and where many a Hic Jacet, with its recorded tribute, lies. 

Of the 360 crosses imposed upon this long-suffering isle, 
the Synod of Argyle, at the time of the Reformation, took 
60, and deposited them in — the sea. Many others have 
fallen under the blows of iconoclasts, or those of inquisitive 
and acquisitive tourists. St. Martin's Cross is a beautiful 
specimen of these graceful memorials, with Runic carvings 
in high relief. Passing through the Street of the Dead to 
the burial-ground, thence to the Cathedral, looking at the 
graves of forty kings of Scotland, including Duncan and 
his murderer Macbeth, and the crumbling relics of thirteen 
centuries, you are ready to believe, with a dean who 
visited lona in 1594, that this " is the maist honourable and 
ancient place in Scotland, as in thair dayes w^e reid." The 



40 OVTDOOn LIFE IN EUROPE. 

familiar words of Dr. Johnson, in his Tour to the Hebrides, 
also occur to memory.* 

Sentimentality aside, one can not stand on the Abbot's 
mound and repeat the prophecy of Columba without being 
impressed with its literal fulfilment. The last day of his life, 
the gray -haired saint, nearly four score and very infirm, was 
assisted to reach this rocky eminence which overlooked his 
long-adopted home. Raising his hands he spoke these words: 
*' Huic loco, quamlibet angusto et vili non tantum Scotorum 
Reges cum populis, sed etiam barbarum et exterarum gen- 
tium regnatores, cum plebibus sibi subjectis, grandem et non 
mediocrem conferrent honorem ; a Sanctis quoque etiam 
aliarum ecclesiarum non mediocris veneratio conferetur." f 

* " We were now treading that illustrious island which was once 
the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and 
roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the bless- 
ings of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotions would 
be impossible if it were endeavored, and would be foolish if it were 
possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, 
whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over 
the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far 
from me and from my friends be such frigid philosophy as may con- 
du(at us indifferent and unmoved over any ground which has been 
dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be 
envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of 
Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins 
of lona!" The gushing Boswell says: "Had our tour produced 
nothing else but this sublime passage, the world must have acknowl- 
edged that it was not made in vain. [The tour, or the world?] The 
present respectable President of the Royal Society was so much 
struck on reading it, that he clasped his hands together and remained 
for some time in an attitude of silent admiration." A cruel critic 
adds that nothing in American literature can parallel this famous 
passage, except Mark Twain's outburst of feeling at the grave of one 
of his blood-relations, the tomb of Adam! 

f ' ' Unto this place, albeit so small and poor, great homage shall 
yet be paid, not only by the Scottish Kings and people, but by the 
rulers of barbarous and distant nations, with their people also. In 
great veneration, too, shall it be held by the holy men of other 
churches." 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 4i 

The objects along the route are noted in guide-books; 
castles with tragic associations; bays where the sea fights 
took place; picturesque islands, like the " Dutchman's 
Cap," very like a huge black hat with broad rim; frown- 
ing headlands with light-houses; wild ravines and leaping 
cascades. Christopher North exclaimed: 

" Is not the scene magnificent? 
Beauty nowhere owes to ocean 
A lovelier haunt than this." 

Most interesting of all was Sunepol House, overlooking the 
Atlantic, where the poet Campbell lived when tutor. 
There he wrote his " Exile of Erin," and much of his 
" Pleasures of Hope." The scenery, he says, " fed the ro- 
mance of my fancy." 

I went ashore at Tobermory, the capital of Mull, a 
charming spot, full of sylvan beauty and walled in by tow- 
ering mountains. Oban, too, was a restful retreat for two 
nights, a natural amphitheater with a pleasant modern vil- 
lage of stone houses in a single street along the bay. The 
Gaelic is still heard on every hand. In one of the shops I 
tested some excellent corned beef canned in Chicago. 

The long summer twilight was noticeable when the hour 
of 10 P.M. was tolled from the church tower; I rested on 
my oars and let my boat drift with the tide as I read in 
a pocket Bible of the smallest type. Music from a band 
on shore was wafted over the waters and died away amid 
the distant hills. Here, as everywhere in Europe, " Grand- 
father's Clock " was made to do service, the popularity of 
which is an unexplained musical mystery. 



CHAPTER HI. 

England and Wales. 

liverpool. 

The Sabbath chimes of Birkenhead Priory were ringing 
out a Sabbath welcome the first time we entered the port 



42 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

of Liverpool. It was such a day as Geoi'ge Herbert lias 
described, " most calm, most bright," and full of auspicious 
auguries, which have been fully realized during seven 
summers in England. The wild thyme on the hillsides 
made the air sweet, and the bosky combs beneath, clothed 
in rich verdure, reflected the rare beauty of the heavens. 
Some one has compared the scenery of England with that 
of Italy, and while admitting that there is an element of 
soberness, says that it is " the soberness of a Doric temple, 
with its decorated frieze and intervals of rich, exquisite 
sculpture," adorning a beautiful shrine, thfe home of our 
ancestral virtue. 

The memories of Liverpool are those of princely English 
liospitalitj^, as hearty as it was abundant, and as graceful 
as it was generous. Nowhere in the world is domestic 
comfort so reduced to a system as in England. The guest 
is made to feel at home, not only by the unaffected cordi- 
ality of his host, but by the felicitous appointments of the 
dwelling itself, and the air of repose that broods over all. 
With wealth and elegance there is a sense of peaceful 
seclusion, cosy quietude. Things are for use rather than 
for display. Americans often lavish money in the embel- 
lishments of a pretentious yet useless luxury. One almost 
shivers amid the splendors of some silent, sunless parlors, 
crowded with all kinds of costly and curious bric-a-brac, 
works of art and quaint conceits. These rooms are lighted 
by gas, and warmed by heat through a hole in the floor. 
From the front windows are seen long blocks of brick and 
brownstone, and from the rear the back yards of the next 
block. This is a fair picture of American city life and its 
" modern improvements." But an English mansion em- 
bodies essentially dift'erent ideas. There are class distinc- 
tions and burdensome conventionalities which shape their 
society which we do well to ignore, but there is much we 
may with advantage imitate in their home life and ideas of 
practical comfort, as will be seen further on. 

Brief glances were had of the j)ublic buildings of Liver- 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 43 

pool, its docks and its churches. I heard, one Sabbath, the 
then vigorous Dr. Raffles. Birkenhead, Stoneleigh and 
the Necropolis, Kendal and the Lake district then invited 
our attention. 

The ruined castle in which Catherine Parr was born — 
last wife of Henry VIII. — was the first I had ever seen, 
and so it made impressions peculiarly novel and permanent. 
There, shrined in moss and ivy, stood the actual realization 
of early thouglit and fancy, an ancient castle. Climbing the 
liill it crowns, I stretched myself on the green slopes where 
the cows were feeding and gave myself up to delicious 
reverie. The words of Washington Irving had from boy- 
hood voiced my aspirations. He writes : " I longed to tread 
in the footsteps of antiquity, to loiter about the ruined castle, 
to meditate on the falling tower, to escape, in short, from 
the commonplace realities of the present, and lose myself 
among the shadowy grandeurs of the past." Thus did I 
answer the query of Horace, " Quid terras alio calentes 
sole mutamus patria f " 

•' Why change our country, for lands 
Warmed by another sun ? " 

LAKE WINDERMERE. 

An English "fly," a low one-horse vehicle, took me 
about Windermere and alonof the Calgfarth Woods. 
" Merlin," a private pleasure-boat on the lake, afforded 
other views of this Arcadia, the charms of which are too 
familiar to be narrated. The prose of De Quincey and the 
verse of Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey are the best 
descriptions. Dove's Nest recalls Mrs. Ilemans ; as Ray- 
rigg recalls Wilberforce ; and EUeray, Wilson. Indeed, 
the whole region is as rich in its literary associations as it is 
full of the elements of delicate beauty. Not a little of the 
tender, almost feminine grace and idyllic sweetness of the 
poetry produced by the Lake School is to be traced to the 
genial influence of these serene surroundings. The medi- 
tative Wordsworth loved the mountains and woody soli- 



44 OUT-DOOR LIFE IJS EULiUPE. 

tildes about Grassmere, and speaks of them as beloved 
companions with whom he daily talked. 

UP AND DOWX YORKSHIRE. 

Leaving the main line at Skipton, I went to the famous 
waters of Harrowgate. The aftei"noon happened to be 
fine. Hill and dell were golden with flowery glory. 
Meadow and stream laughed in the rare sunshine that in- 
terspaced hours of sullen gloom. Yet true it is that Nature 
gives to us only w^liat we bring to her. A troubled heart 
gets no joy from the serenest sky, and a prosj^ soul gets no 
poetry from the exquisite scenery. When Wordsworth 
and his devoted sister walked as they were wont, day by 
day around Grassmere, they once came, she writes, upon 
long beds of daffodils, resting their heads on mossy stones 
as on a pillow, while others " tossed and reeled and danced, 
and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind, they 
looked so gay and glowing." Contrast this with De 
Quincey's experience, to whom the sound of the summer 
breeze at noon was " the saddest sound " in the world, 
as if it came from gravej^ards, and this because of early 
associations of sorrow with a summer noon. Training, as 
well as natural tastes, has much to do with the enjoyment 
of scenery. When a certain party of tourists came in 
sight of that emerald gem, Lake Grassmere, an American 
stolidly remarked, " Fine pond, that ! " A sawmill would 
have elicited about the same amount of responsiveness. 
Another party, returning from Italj^ through Switzerland^ 
were asked in Paris their opinion of the Alps. "Alps?" 
says one, scratching his head, " Alps 9 seems to me we did 
go over some rising ground.'''' He may have been an 
Englishman. 

But here we are at Harroavgate, Harlow-gate, *.e., 
" the road to the soldier's hill," as it was called some seven 
hundred years ago. This broad 200-acre lot, bordered with 
forest trees and the villas of the gentry, cut by walks and 
drives, and enclosing John's Well, is called the Stray or 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 45 

common. What a soft drowsy haze rests on the picture 
this midsummer afternoon, and how it seems like Saratoga, 
over the sea, in the busy idleness, the dolce far niente sort 
of life you see about you. Those nurses and babies are 
making the most of this exception to the summer days of 
'79, as is that blind musician, who on the greensward is 
discoursing strains of old-time melodies like " Portuguese 
Hymn." Nobody says " keep off the grass," so let us stroll 
down to Harrowgate Well and taste of the curative spring. 
AVhew ! what an odor ; no wonder that some one wrote on 
the wall that Satan while flying over the Harrowgate Well 
*' was charmed with the heat and the smell! " He said that 
he knew he was near to — his usual residence. A taste is all 
one cares to take. Drop into the sulphurous liquid a six- 
pence. It turns black. Never mind, leave it for the ser- 
vant. He will brighten it. He is as little affected by 
sulphureted hydrogen as a plumber is with sewer gas. 
The author of "A Season at Harrowgate" says that the 
whole kingdom affords no better scene for a caricature 
than is beheld here at drinking hours. 

" All ages and sexes, all ranks and degree, 
All forms and all sizes distorted you see. 
Some grinning, some splntt'ring, some pulling wry faces. 
In short 'tis a mart for all sorts of grimaces. 
But all you conceive, of age, infancy, youth. 
In contortion and whim must fall short of the truth. 
One screws up his lips, like the mouth of a purse. 
While his neighbor's fierce grin gives threat of a curse : 
And a third, gasping, begs, with his eyes turned to Heaven, 
That his stomach will keep what so lately was given ; 
But feeling the rebel will spurn at his i^rayer, 
Throws the rest of his bumper away in despair." 

Not stopping at the saline and iron springs, let us turn to 
pleasanter objects like Bolton Abbey, built in the twelfth 
century as a mother's memorial of her only son, drowned near 
by ; Kirkstall Abbey, another exquisite ruin, and, above 
all, Knaresboro, where that strange character, Eugene 
Aram, the scholar, dwelt from 1734 to 1745, whose life 



46 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

mirrors at once the loves of Abelard and the dark mys- 
teries with which Hamlet and Faust once grappled. 
Familiar with the ballad of Hood and the romance of 
Bulwer, you will want to give at least two hours to this 
place. 

Ascending the lofty limestone ridge on which this unique 
old town is built, you see the church in which the murder- 
ers of Becket hid, 1170, also the crumbling walls of the 
castle, which date back to the Norman Conquest, and 
which recall the tragic fate of Richard II. and other 
bloody memories. There is a deep dungeon of hewn stone 
and a secret cell, with indentations as if from the shackles 
and manacles of prisoners. The chapel cut out of the solid 
rock, where Saint Robert worshiped in the thirteenth 
century, is another relic of medieval times. His cave is 
further down the Nidd. Robbers have since dwelt there. 
This is the place where Daniel Clark was murdered by 
Eugene Aram. A half -hour's walk leads us to it along a 
shady river bank. " 'Tis the prime of summer time," and 
the bounding boys let out of school are shouting now, as 
when that melancholy man, afterwards the usher of Lynn, 
described by Hood, confessed to a little urchin his crime 
in the form of a dream. These are Yorkshire boys. Their 
speech is hard to understand. A gate is swung open by 
one of them to let us pass, and he says, " Please scramble 
a ha'penny." 

By a winding path a hired guide leads us to the cave, 
enters, lights a candle, and tells the story of that wintry 
midnight hour when Clark within this dark cavern was 
struck down by the pickaxe of the frenzied man whose 
jealousy, .long nursed, had turned to madness. The inci- 
cidents of that fateful February day are given with almost 
painful minuteness by a relative of one who lived near by 
at the time and knew the facts. It is not mere morbid 
curiosity that invests the place with interest, as at New- 
gate and the Hulks, but, as Lord Lytton has suggested, 
the crime of this cultured scholar is so strangely episodical 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 47 

and apart from the rest of his career, that it is a problem 
of philosophy to explain it, as much as the acts of lago, 
Othello, Macbeth, or Richard. His trial has been con- 
sidered the most remarkable in the history of English 
courts. That of Professor AVebster, of Harvard Uni- 
versity, for the murder of an associate professor, whose 
body he burned, November, 1849, has some features in 
common. 

Northward, a few miles, is Fountain's Abbey, embowered 
in groves of ilex, cypress and oak, where Robin Hood had 
his meeting with the " curtail fryer." Marston Moor is 
passed six miles eastward from Knaresboro. Here Crom- 
well conquered Charles and took a hundred flags, which 
the Parliamentary soldiers tore to ribbons and bound as 
trophies round their arms. That bloody victory helped to 
settle the great struggle of the seventeenth century be- 
tween Protestant liberty on the one hand, and on the other 
absolutism and the Papacy. Chateaubriand has truly ob- 
served, " There was a certain invincibility in Cromwell's 
genius like the new ideas of which he was the champion. 
His actions had all the rapidity and effect of lightning." 
" The troops under his command," says D'Aubigne, 
" thought themselves sure of victory, and, in fact, he never 
lost a battle." 

THE CITY OF YORK. 

York we reach at evening, a grand old city. Here, it 
has been claimed, one Roman emperor was born, and here 
two others died — Severus and Constantius. We need 
not credit tlie monkish chronicler, Geoffry, who affirms 
that a grandson of ^neas founded York b.c. 983, while 
Hector reigned in Troj'^, and Eli was High Priest in Judea, 
any more than we do the statement of Sir Thomas Elliot 
that Chester was founded 240 years after the flood ! 
Either place, however, is old enough for the mustiest 
antiquary. My stay here was made particularly agreeable 
by the hospitalities enjoyed at the home of Prof. T* An 



43 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

open carriage was brought to the door after lunch, and a 
long ride with a scholarly companion gave me a better idea 
of York than any printed description ever had. Walks 
about town the next morning completed the visit. Mr. 
George Hope, author of the pamphlet on Castlegate Stone, 
and Antiquities of St. Mary's, showed me special attentions. 
The present occupant of King James' former mansion 
courteously showed me through the apartments, and placed 
me in a chair once used by Queen Elizabeth. 

A visit to the ruined Abbey, the Multangular Tower, 
and the various Bars or city gates, scarred by battle and 
crumbling with age, and a glance at some of the glories of 
the famous Minster — "the grandest building in Great 
Britain," as Professor Hoppin of New Haven says — these 
were all the time allowed. It is not, indeed, the length 
of one's stay, but rather the degree of preparedness to see, 
which determines the real satisfaction enjoyed. Forty 
miles' ride took me to Driffield, an old market town, and 
an agricultural center. Yorkshire is c^alled the " Empire 
State of England, the Queen of English counties, in size, 
population, richness, rural beauty, and historical an- 
tiquities." 

One little hamlet, ten miles distant, was my Mecca this 
time, the town of Thwii^g. It was sought with the zeal 
of an antiquary simply, inasmuch as a volume bearing this 
humble monosyllable was then in preparation by a kins- 
man. Stopping at the rectory, my horse and driver were 
housed, for it was raining hard, and I strolled out for a 
walk to the venerable church and graveyard. At the 
College of Arms I had learned about Sir Robert de Thwing, 
. Knight, Lord of Kilton Castle, 1237, and his descendants 
who were engaged with Edward I. in the wars with Scot- 
land. Here, over the altar, is a memorial window bearing 
the names of Archbishop Lamplough and Baron de Thwing. 
Mural tablets record other names ; the stone figure of a 
priest holding a sacramental cup lies in the chancel, and 
there is a large baptismal font, which is supposed to be 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 49 

seven hundred years old. The carvings of the stone porch 
are very elaborate, and heraldic insignia embellish the 
walls. The living is $900 a year. The population of 
Thwing is but 365, and no resident has been known for 
years bearing this family name. The wolds, high open 
tracts, surround the village, and the fields show evidences 
of high cultivation. The cottages of the farm laborers are 
one story, stone, thatched, or covered with earthen tiles. 
One misses the neat white country houses everywhere seen in 
New England, owned by the farmers who are proprietors 
of the soil they till, and have, therefore, every motive to 
thrift, industry, and fealty to government. Never in any 
form can Communism be tolerated in a land where there 
are many small properties, guarantees of peace and loyalty. 
Hull is a large and prosperous town, " where Humber 
pours her rich commercial stream," as Cowper wrote. In 
maritime importance it is only surpassed by London and 
Liverpool. The agricultural, mining, and manufacturing 
products of the north find easy transportation to the Baltic 
and other ports of Europe. Its history the past seven 
centuries is rich in materials. Here Wilberforce was born, 
and Andrew Marvell dwelt, "the British Aristides." 
Statues of these and other eminent scholars and statesmen 
embellish the place. By the courtesy of Mr. G. F. Bristow, 
an honored merchant of Hull, I learned something of the 
religious and philanthropic work going on here. On the 
Sabbath I heard the widely-known Presbyterian preacher, 
Rev. Dr. W. P. Mackay, whose style was somewhat like 
Dr. Talmage. His sermons, however, are marked by satire 
rather than humor, by pungency rather than wit, by rugged 
Saxon strength rather than by showy ornament. He was, 
moreover, confined in a high pulpit box, which fettered his 
movements. Like Joseph Cook, he made his prelude as 
long as his sermon. Both were on the same theme, Luke 
18:9, "Who trusted in themselves and despised others." 
It is an age, he said, of superciliousness and haughty pride. 
How common yet how disgusting to see one who has a finer 



50 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

bonnet or a "better furnished head or a few more pounds in 
his purse than his neighbor, to look down upon him with 
disdain. Better pay your debts with black hands than 
steal with white ones. " O, go on to the more comfortable 
truths of the gospel," you say. " No, we won't hurry. Let 
us see whom the cap may fit. Try it on. " I thank thee that 
I — " Not a long speech, but about as many I's as you have 
fingers on your' hands. How he draws out the awful dis- 
qualifications of his neighbors, and sticks to his own good- 
ness. " Or even as this publican. Just think of that fellow 
who presumes to stand near me ! I fast twice in the week." 
The old dyspeptic perhaps ate too much ; as much in those 
five days as the other in seven. 

Thus did the preacher grapple with the subject and 
Averse by verse unfold the parable, the key-note of which 
he made to be in the single clause first quoted. Sweeping 
as were some of his statements, he guarded vital points in 
the discussion, as when he disclaimed sympathy with those 
who sought to level all distinctions. I heard Dr. M. again 
at Mildmay, some years after, and learned with sorrow of 
his sudden departure in 1885 while he was visiting the 
Hebrides. His dying ejaculation was, " God is light, God 
is love ! " very like the last words of Canon Kingsley, 
" How beautiful is God ! " 

Two nights were spent in Manchester. Glimpses of 
Leeds, Birmingham and other important centers had to 
sufiice. One of the proprietors of the Leeds 3Iercury 
kindly pointed me to t)bjects of interest and put some rare 
reading matter, new and old, in my hands. When the 
Romans wrought here, they appreciated the beds of clay 
and limestone. When Henry VIH. ruled, his historian 
wrote of Leeds, " The town standeth most by clothing," 
English wool being the finest in the world and praised by 
Julius C^sar. The elegant Town Hall, the Y. M. C. A. 
])uilding and various church edifices interested me. Where 
St. Peter's now stands were found sculptured stones, be- 
lieved to have been cut by old fire-worshipers, as the 



E AG LAND AND WALES. 51 

hieroglyphs illustrate Oriental ideas of astronomy. Bat in 
the throb and rush of these modern industries these memo- 
rials are of little account with most of men. 

THE UNIVERSITIES. 

The cities of Cambridge and Oxford are not unlike in their 
general appearance. Both lie level, surrounded by meadows. 
The one is encircled by the Cam, the other by the Cherwell 
and Isis. Both have their exquisite parks and gardens, shady 
river banks, and velvet lawns ; their venerable buildings, 
forming " a monumental history of England, exhibiting all 
its great epochs" in the architecture itself ; and in both we 
meet the same gowned scholars and academic dignitaries. 
Cambridge has been called " a nest of singing birds," 
having sent out many poets, from Edmund Spenser, 1599, 
down to Alfred Tenn^^son, including Dryden, Milton, 
Byron, Gray, Coleridge, and Wordsworth. Cambridge 
leads in mathematics, and Oxford in the classics. Poetry 
and science reign in the one ; law, logic, and politics in 
the other. As you alight from the railway carriage at 
Oxford you think of the saying, " Change here for Rome ! " 
Let us first look at this old, aristocratic center, of which 
Ralph Aggas wrote, 1573 : 

' * Ancient Oxford ! noble nurse of skill ! 
A citie seated riclie in everye skill ! 
Girt with woode and water." 

The solitary tower of the castle first meets your eye, where 
Alfred the Great held court a thousand years ago. You 
think of that December snow-storm when King Stephen 
compelled the Empress Maud to flee from it on foot to 
Abington. St. Michael's tower recalls the martyr Cranmer, 
who there looked out and saw the burning of Ridley and 
Latimer, Oct. 12, 1555. They did "light such a candle, by 
God's grace, in England as shall never be put out." The 
door of the cell which confined the martyrs is still shown. 
On the morning of IVIarch 21, 1556, Cranmor was brought 
into St. Mary's to proclaim his adherence to Romani^^ni, but 



52 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

boldly repudiated it, and Avas hurried theiice to the stake. 
Here now are preached the Bamjiton Lectures, the Lenton 
and University sermons. 

Where yon fountain gushes, John Wycliffe used to 
preach in the oj^en air. There is Bishop Heber's tree, 
shading the rooms once occupied by " gentle Reginald," 
known by his missionary hymn, " From Greenland's icy 
mountains " ; further on, by Cherwell's banks, is " Addison's 
Walk," where the pious poet loved to wander, 

" Transported with the view, and lost 
In wonder, love, and praise. " 

"Maudlen," from the Syriac, means "beauty," and is the 
Oxonian name for Magdalen College, founded in 1456. 
Among its alumni were Cardinal Wolsey, Lord Jeffreys, 
John Hampden, Gibbon, and Bishop' Home. Near by is 
Merton, another of the 27 colleges of which Dr. Johnson 
wrote : 

" Who but must feel emotion as he contemplates at 
leisure the magnificence which here surrounds him, press- 
ing the same soil, breathing the same air, admiring the 
same objects, which the Hookers, the Chillingworths, 4^he 
Souths, and a host of learned and pious men have trodden, 
breathed and admired." 

By that window studied Prof essor Yives, the incompara- 
ble sweetness of whose speech, according to Bishop Butler, 
led the bees to settle over his window, remaining there 130 
years. When removed, an immense quantity of honey was 
taken. Li yonder chamber toiled Richard Hooker, of whom 
Pope Clement VHI. said : " This man, indeed, deserves the 
name of author. His books will get reverence by age, for 
there are in them such seeds of eternity as will continue 
till the last fire shall devour all learning." 

But time fails us to tell of John Wesley, Whitefield, Dean 
Swift, South, Jeremy Taylor, Edward Young, Tom Hood, 
Shelley, Faber, Herbert, Lord Mansfield, Duke of Welling- 
ton, William Penn, Sir Matthew Hale, Gladstone, John 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 53 

Ruskiii, and De Quincey, and of others, dead and living, 
who have graced the records of this memorable seat of 
learning. 

Do not forget the Bodleian library, with its 400,000 vol- 
umes, rare MSS. and curiosities, including Guy Fawkes' 
lantern ; the Hall and Kitchen at Christ Church, with the 
ancient gridiron, more than four feet square, used centuries 
ago ; and the largest bell in England, Great Tom, 17,640 
lbs., the door closer of Oxford, which at 9:05 p.m. tolls 
101 strokes, the original number of foundation students. 
Milton alludes to this " curfew sound with sullen roar," 
which has been heard four hundred years. Holman 
Hunt's picture, " Light of the World," at Keble Chapel, is 
a masterpiece worth seeing. It cost $50,000. 

An old physician, Dr. Godfrey, used sorrowingly to saj^, 
" Oxford is a dreadfully healthy place ! " This fact is 
certified by the ages of six persons, who died within three 
weeks, awhile ago, averaging over 90 years, and by the 
reference of Charaberlayne, 200 years ago, who speaks of 
Oxford as a resort for invalids. In short, we may ask with 
Fabei-, 

" Were ever river banks so fair ? 
Gardens so fit for nightingales as these ? 
Was ever town so rich in court and tower ? " 

At Cambridge I visited nearly all of the seventeen col- 
leges, and was most interested in King's, with its magnifi- 
cent chapel founded by Henry YI., 1446, and in the new 
imposing structure, Fitzwilliam Museum. Queen's was 
the residence of Erasmus, and Trinity of Barrow, who 
had in an eminent degree the gift of continuance. At one 
time, after preaching three full hours, he was only brought 
to a conclusion by the organist, who opened on him a full 
musical broadside and so extinguished him ! 

College life in the reign of Edward VI., 1547) is thus 
described : "Ryse betwixt four and fyve ; from fyve 
untill sixe of the clocke, common prayer with an exhorta- 
tion of God's worde j sixe unto ten, ej^ther private study 



54 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

or commune lectures. At ten, dynner, where they be con- 
tent with a penye pyece of biefe among fowre, havynge a 
few porage made of the brothe of the same biefe, wythe 
salte and otemel and nothing else. Teachynge or learn- 
ynge untill fyve, supper not much better than dynner, im- 
medyately after the whyche reasonynge in problemes or 
some other studye untill nine or tenne. Beynge without 
fyre they are fayne to walke or runne up and down halfe 
an houre to gette a heate on thire feete when they go to 
bed." There's monastic.mortification for you ! 

Inr the master's lodge of Sidney Sussex, I saw the famous 
crayon portrait of Cromwell, presented in 1765, a most strik- 
ing face. On an oaken door of an attic in Christ's College 
is cut the name of Milton. Here lodged the great poet, toil- 
ing studiously, as he says " up and stirring in winter often 
ere the sound of any bell awoke men to labor or to devo- 
tion ; then with useful and generous labors preserving the 
body's health and hardiness to render lightsome, clear and 
not lumpish obedience to the mind, to the cause of religion 
and our country's liberty, in sound bodies to stand and 
cover their stations." Remembering that Milton's gray 
head came very near the headman's ax for truth and 
liberty's sake, we may, as Professor Hoppin says, see in 
Milton himself the " true poem of a heroic life." The mul- 
berry tree which he planted 200 years ago is still pointed 
out. 

A comparison between the moral and intellectual bene- 
fits of the English and American college systems would 
involve a discussion of the whole subject of state patro- 
nage, of ecclesiastic endowments, and indeed of the 
national life out of which each springs. America is young. 
Her people have no cloistral or aristocratic institutions, and 
are impatient of systems which reflect antiquated, medieval 
ideas, and perpetuate the power of a churchly hierarchy or 
a social oligarchy. The early monastic schools of Eng- 
land were valuable only to a few, and to-day her great en- 
dowed echooU, ^cqQrding to Howm'4 Staunton, are tbeaters 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 55 

of athletic manners and training-places of the gallant Eng- 
lish gentleman, but do " neither furnish the best moral 
training nor the best mental discipline. The best friends 
of these schools confess that they contain much that is pe- 
dantic, puerile, antiquated, obsolete, obstructive, and not 
a little that is barbarous, and, like other English institu- 
tions, they are apt to confound stolidity with solidit3^" 
This intelligent Englishman pleads for the classics, but 
"with far more pith and plenitude tlian at present"; for 
science, but in its most exalted principles ; for oratorical 
study and rhetorical training, and for a national university 
as an urgent need. Americans may do well, as the author 
of " Old England " observes, to combine something of the 
system of fellowships, not as a " life of literary epicur- 
eanism," but " in the modified system of scholarships ex- 
tending beyond the term of college course," which tend to 
foster the pure love of study aside from the popular ends 
and rewards of scholarship.* 

CHESTER AND NORTH WALES. 

If pressed for time, you can see both in one day. One 
night, at least, ought to be spent at one of the attractive 
watering-places along the shore, under the shadow of the 
Welsh mountains — Llandudno, for example. There I have, 
several summers, found, at very moderate rates, accommo- 
dations at the Sherwood House, the sea-side home of the 
Y. M. C. A. of Manchester. 

The guide-books give ample information as to the pic- 
turesque, and historic surroundings. The cavern is shown 

* There is also the proper adjustment of mental and physical dis- 
cipline. Dr. R. S. Storrs tells of a student of good habits and schol- 
arship whom an Eastern college rusticated in his junior year for too 
frequent visits to a bowling alley. But for all that, he graduated 
with honor, and two years later was elected tutor and required to see 
that students did not neglect the bowling alley and other gymnastic 
duties ! A proper balance is needed. Body and mind are to be 
trained in harmony. 



56 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

where the Romans worked in copper, when Christ was 
toiling at the bench in Nazareth. Their tools also have 
been found. Roberts, not long ago, saw a family who 
had spent their lives in one of these caves, and happily, 
too. The mother said that she had given birth to and 
brought up thirteen children in that rocky retreat. Re- 
mains of ancient Briton huts are seen. 

But this " queen of Welsh watering-places " has rivals, 
glimpses of which you get passing along the coast by rail. 
A few words about " rare old Chester," a quaint picture- 
book about which many volumes have been written, yet at 
which ea«h tourist and scholar will look with his own eyes. 
The first thing that impressed me was the vast railway en- 
terprises centering here, and the magnificent building which 
is the central station, 1160 feet front, from which go, or to 
which come, 21,500 passengers daily. Polite officials are 
in attendance. I asked one of them the hour at which I 
could go to Holyhead, and how best to see Chester. He 
said that a carriage would take me about the town for five 
shillings, and tram cars for two pence were running to the 
Roman wall and river Dee, encircling the town, from 
whence I could return on foot and see each object at leisure. 
He wrote down on a leaf of his note-book a list of railway 
connections and hours, tore it out and put it in my hand, 
without a bit of that obsequiousness with which many gen- 
teel beggars proffer information to the stranger abroad. 
As the tender was leaving the pier at Liverpool, not long 
ago, an American author of some celebrity, it is said, re- 
marked, as he raised his hat to the crowd on shore, " Gen- 
tlesmen, if there is anybody in your country to whom I've 
% not given a shilling, now's the time to speak ! " I am sure 
that Inspector Price would have resented the offer of pay 
for his attentions. 

It was the noontide hour when I reached Grosvenor 
Bridge. My simple lunch of fruit and oatmeal wafers was 
enjoyed while seated on the western city walls, the founda- 
tions of which were laid by Roman masons when Rome was 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 57 

ruler of the world. Yonder " wizard stream," wliich Brit- 
ons worshiped, now so placid, once was vexed with Caesar's 
oarsmen. That tower, bearing his name, was built by 
Julius Caesar, tradition affirms. Imperial coins, pagan 
altars, baths and statues still are found, though growing 
fewer, like the books of the Sibyl, every year. The tootli 
of time is gnawing them away, and the attempt to " keep 
the ruins in repair " has not always been as successful as at 
lona. A workman, for instance, during the last century 
was directed to replace the heads of images which had 
tumbled off their appropriate shoulders in Chester Cathe- 
dral. The ignorant mason mixed things in an amusing- 
way, by cementing the stony skull of some mailed mon- 
arch to the body of a tender virgin, and putting a queen's 
head on a king's neck. An old writer observes, " We will 
not pretend to say what sort of a head the artist must have 
had ; he knew, however, how to put old heads on young 
shoulders ! " 

Speaking of Chester's crumbling churches reminds one 
of that peppery paragraph which Dean Swift wrote. Stop- 
ping here awhile, he invited some ministers to dine with 
him, not one of whom accepted the courtesy. He vented 
his spleen as follows : 

" The church and clergy of this city are very near akin, 
They're weather-beaten all without and empty all within." 

In an old chronicler I found these items : " 1489. A 
goose was eaten on the top of St. Peter's steeple by the 
parson and his friends. (A-spiring man, indeed !) 1595. 
Ale to be sold three pints for a penny. In 1605, 1313 died 
of the plague." After this came a siege, when a still more 
fearful mortality prevailed, and grass grew in the business 
streets. " God's Providence House " is said to be the only 
one that escaped ; and, carved on the oaken beam, I read 
the pious testimony, " God's providence is mine inheri- 
tance." The strange streets and rows, gates and towers, 
markets and hostelries, with overhanging gables, quaint 



58 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

panelings and burrowing alleys crowded with somber rook- 
eries, the churches and chapels, ancient crypts and clois- 
ters, can not be described in detail, nor yet the Cathedral, 
which I saved for the last, "gray with the memories of 
two thousand years." Here stood Aj^ollo's temple, and 
before that the Druids had their older fane. Entering the 
gorgeous edifice, I stood in the choir beneath a canopy of 
oak, surrounded by elaborately carved stalls, pews, pulpit, 
lectern, throne, o'erhung with richest tracery, and " dyed 
in the soft chequerings of a sleepy light." What a crowd 
of associations fill the mind of the well-read stranger who, 
alone, can stand and think in a place like this ! This 
throne was a pedestal that once held the relics which 
wrought famous miracles, as the credulous believed, in the 
days of the Heptarchy. Could these storied walls, that 
echoed then to Dean Howson's voice, speak out the secrets 
which they hold, what a vivid romance would they tell us 
of feudal baron. Christian king and cloistered saint. These 
stones are smooth. The feet of monarchs and of martyrs 
have trodden tlierri. These monumental inscriptions em- 
balm the most precious reminiscences of the Church and 
nation. No wonder that English character, nurtured amid 
such influences, is what it is. As the biographer of Dr. 
Johnson wrote of Chester, so each visitor writes, " I was 
quite enchanted, so that I could with difficulty quit it." 

WELSH SCENERY. 

We are now on an express train, which is going forty 
miles an hour, "from Dee to Sea," to connect with 
the Dublin steamer. We have left the hill behind from 
which Cromwell bombarded Chester ; Mr. Gladstone's 
Park, and Flint Castle, where Richard II. and Bolingbroke 
met, as described in Shakespeare's tragedy. Its " rude 
ribs and tattered battlements " are fast disappearing. That 
Welsh wonder, " St. Winifred's Well," which gushed where 
the severed head of the virgin nun fell, a place of pilgrim- 
age since the days of the Conqueror ; the smoky collieries 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 50 

of Mostyn ; the vale of Clwyd ; Rhyl, a popular watering 
place ; the prison home of Richard at Rhuddlan Castle ; 
the spire of the Cathedral City, St. Asaph ; remains of 
Roman camps; Abergele, where the horrid burning of 33 
railway passengers took place in 1868, when a train, dash- 
i;ig on at sixty miles anhoui\, collided with petroleum cars; 
Conway, with its ivy-clad, embattled towers, 14 feet thick; 
the church-yard where Wordsworth met the little maid 
who would have it " We are seven," though two were in 
that churchyard laid ; Bettws y Coed, the Druid's Circle, 
overlooking Beaumaris Bay ; Llewellyn's Tower; Penrhyn 
Castle and Menai Bridge — these are but a few of the points of 
interest that arrest attention. But the bewitching beauty 
of those Welsh mountains, wreathed in coronals of purple 
mist and mingled sunshine ; those grassy dells and flow- 
ery dingles, in which pretty cottages and churches nestle, 
and the broad, blue sea, unruffled, in which were seen the 
lengthening shadows of headland and island, all this can be 
imagined, but not easily described. It was my purpose to 
ascend Snowden, not to catch the gift of inspiration prom- 
ised to him who slept on its lofty summit, but to enjoy the 
marvelous prospect of four kingdoms, England, Scotland, 
Wales and Ireland, at a single sweep. Some one has said, 
Caesar must have stood upon this sterile peak when he 
formed the daring conception of ruling the globe. Twenty- 
five lakes, and mountains uncounted, are seen when the 
atmosphere is favorable. But the summer of '79 was an 
unfavorable one in the United Kingdom, and so I turned 
away, knowing that the Alps and Apennines were yet to 
come. 

From Bangor to the western extremity of Anglesey is 25 
miles, just about the length of the name of the first village 
after you pass the colossal bridge, which is Llanfair- 

PWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWLLTYSILIOGOGOGOCH 

— 54 letters — " linked sweetness, long-drawn out," yet a 
word every day used, and pronounced in a single breath, 
without pause 1 These mountaineers must be a bealthj^, 



GO OVT-DOOn LIFE IN EUROPE. 

long-winded race, to be able to handle words as long as tliG 
moral law. 

The conductor, who spoke English when we left Chester, 
struck out right and left into AVelsh, soon after we got 
into the dark tunnel region, both of which were equally 
obscure. It is a mystery how the sons of Cambria cling to 
their vernacular, and that the Severn and the Dee divide, as 
Avith impassable barrier, one nationality from another. 
Some ascribe this antipathy to the English tongue to the 
remembered cruelties of the Lancastrian family ; others to 
the teachings of their ancient bards and the^ revival through 
the principality of the Eisteddfodu with its competitive 
exercises. Tlie Welsh are a pious, thrifty race, and even a 
swift, hurried tour will give one a pleasant impression of 
the people, as well as of the principality. 

THE ISLE OF MAIST. 

Here is another primitive race, a little sequestered 
nationality, as peculiar as the miniature republic of San 
Marino, in Italy, or Andorre, away among the Pyrenees. 
The population is 54,000. The language of the Manx is 
like the Erse or Irish. I found it still spoken, although 
dying out. Its literature is rich in arch^ologic lore, and 
has been saved through the exertions of a national societ}^, 
many precious carvals (carols) having been found in smoky 
tomes, in many a peasant's hut. These MS. ballads record 
events from the fabulous period before the sixth century, 
down to the days of Norsemen and Normand. Their in- 
sulated position has helped to perpetuate among the Manx 
a national tj^pe of. their own. As lately as April 4, 1876, 
the House of Keys unanimously voted " firmly to oppose 
any attempt to absorb the ancient sea of Sudor and Man, or 
to amalgamate it with any other diocese." 

School boards are compulsory, and the daily attendance 
of pupils strictly enforced. Governor Loch has managed 
affairs since 1863 with public spirit, and he has promoted 
postal, telegraph and railway communication on the island, 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 61 

Five hours by steamer, direct from Liverpool, bring you 
to Douglas, 75 miles. The Barrovr route is but 40. The 
nearest point is only 16 miles, and formerly was still nearer, 
as geologists believe. Indeed it is said that over the shal- 
low strait a Scandinavian King once tried to build a bridge. 
Mona, as Tacitus called the island, is 33 miles long. Sev- 
eral lines of railways traverse it. I selected the Castle- 
town and visited the southern shore and spent a night at 
Port Erin, on the Avestern side, near Calf of Man. The 
word Man, Maun, or Mona is believed to be from Sanscrit 
root, and significant of the holy repute of the isle, as our 
word Monk. 

Douglas, an attractive town of 10,000 people, is the 
center of interest. It is built on terraced hills overlooking 
its crescent bay, and much frequented as a watering-place. 
But the student of nature and lover of antiquity will push 
into the interior, and ramble over the ruins of old Druidic 
temples, altars, groves and consecrated fountains ; peer 
into the round tower, the tumuli and cairns where the urn 
of human ashes still is seen, and the stone ambo, or pulpit, 
stands as of old ; study the mystic Runes (secrets) on 
cross and gravestone ; by " trap " or steamer visit the 
rocky cliffs on the southwest where the petrel and puffin, 
the hawk and falcon hover, or visit the Highlands and 
climb Snsefell, where one can enjoy a most exhilarating 
prospect. 

The metalliferous hills, worked by Romans, are yet 
yielding wealth in silver, lead and copper. The famous 
Laxey Wheel, about 220 feet round, attracts many to the 
mines. In some of the secluded moorland cottages, the 
ancient jacket of undyed wool and the Sunday blanket still 
are seen. Old superstitions as to fairies, elves, bugganes 
and other apparitions yet prevail. The story of the specter- 
hound that haunted Peel Castle is referred to in Scott's 
"Lay of the Last Minstrel." Shakespeare also makes 
reference to this historic isle. " The Cloven Stones" mark 
the resting-place of a Welsh prince who brought his war- 



62 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

riors here before the Scandinavians settled, and credulous 
people have been seen during the present century soberly 
waiting at a certain hour, to behold the tAvo sides of the 
split rock strike together, as it was believed they Avould, 
when Kirk Lovan Church bell rang a Sunday peal. When 
the first Norwegian King landed, fresh from the conquest 
of the Orkneys and Hebrides, he was asked by the natives 
whence he came. It was a clear, starlight night, says 
Brown, and pointing up to the Milky Way, glittering in 
the heavens, he said : " That's the road to my country." 
ThB starry belt has since been known to the Manx as King 
Orrey's road. The designation of the bishopric is Sodor 
and Man. The cathedral at lona was called Soder, from 
^wr^p, Saviour. Others derive Sodor from the Nor- 
wegian word, meaning Southern Islands. 

The air was misty during my visit, and the ocean out- 
looks enjoyed in the Hebrides were not granted, but the 
old castles and church-yards, the pleasant dells and hill- 
sides, bright with gorse and fern, the cairns and cottages, 
and the men and women seen, amply repaid me. On my 
way back to Liverpool, as I sat on deck writing, a stranger, 
of plain, intelligent appearance, spoke to me and began 
asking questions as to America. Others drew near, and 
for twenty minutes I spoke in familiar colloquy on Labor 
and Capital, Socialism, Strikes, the needless asperities be- 
tween the rich and poor, and the chances for social advance- 
ment in that vast continent over the sea. I never spoke to 
a more attentive audience in any lecture room than that 
which sat ai'ound me on the fore deck of that fine Manx 
steamer. 

SOUTHERN ENGLAND AND ISLE OF WIGHT. 

The rambles about the birthplace of Shakespeare and 
the emotions awakened need not be described. The blink 
of sunshine enjoyed set off the rural beauties of Stratford- 
on-Avon to the best advantage, and a noonda}^ meal under 
the humble roof of a canty dame, such as Goody Blake 



ENGLAND AND WALE8. 63 

once was, proved a pleasing adjunct to the excursion. The 
wild thyme and musk rose, the oxlip and violet were just as 
sweet on the river banks, and the meadows were still 
painted with " daisies pied and violets blue, and cuckoo 
buds of yellow hue," as when the boy poet chased the but- 
terflies over the greensward. 

With different emotions did I walk about Bedford to 
the spot where the Immortal Dreamer saw heaven opened, 
out to Elstow cottage, to the old barn where he held meet- 
ings, and the village church where he rang the bell. The 
words of Lord Macaulay came to mind, " This is the high- 
est miracle of genius, that imaginations of one mind should 
become the personal recollections of another ; and this 
miracle the tinker has wrought." Nor did I forget gentle 
Cowper as I crossed the valley of the Ouse and looked 
away towards Olney's " calm retreat and silent shade," 
where he and Rev. John Newton used to sit in loving con- 
verse till late into the night. An hour's ride brought me 
to London. 

THE CITY OF LONDON. 

Its present magnitude awes you. A country dame on 
her first visit to the sea, looking over its vastness, and 
mentally contrasting it with the pent-up Utica that hither- 
to had contracted her vision, exclaimed : " I'm glad to see 
something that there is enough of! " In 1855 as I stood in the 
ball on the top of St. Paul's dome, that which from the 
ground seemed a nut-shell, but really a space sufficient to 
hold a large family, and looked up and down the Valley of 
the Thames, a score of miles over the homes of millions — a 
city then ten times as large as Boston, from which I came 
— I felt like the old lady. There before me was a city 
that was simply immense, both in extent and population. 
I)iit thirty-three years have made it still larger. It is a 
broad, wide, teeming sea of huraanit}^, a stud}^ for the 
thoughtful — the London of history and of literature ; of 
commerce and manufactures j of science and art — the Lou- 



64 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

don of our nursery rhymes, and the center of the world ! 
Where shall one begin, and when and where can he end, 
in the exploration of its labyrinthine life ? 

Outdoor life, of course, cannot be as bright in smoky 
London as in sunny France or Italy, but its varied phases, 
though somber, are interesting to study. How well Dick- 
ens knew these streets and bridges, and what realistic in- 
tensity he throws into his prose as Thomas Hood has put 
into his verse. 

LONDOISr BEIDGE. 

Let us stand here and watch the pomp and pride in velvet 
and silk ; the want and woe in wretchedness and rags ; 
those who laugh and sing, and those who weep and sigh, 
and look longingly into the dark water as a possible relief 
from misery. Think of the history of old London Bridge, 
for six centuries the only tie between the town and the 
Surrey Side ; a town in itself, inhabited by some of the 
richest merchants, who not only had their shops here, but 
built " statelie houses on either side, one continual vault or 
root, except certain void spaces for the retire of passengers 
from the danger of carts and droves of cattle." So wrote 
Norden in 1624. Here lived the great painters Hogarth and 
Holbein, and, for a time, the still more famous John Bun- 
yan. The heads of traitors used to be here exposed, such 
as Jack Cade and his associates, also those of men of worth, 
like William Wallace, Bolingbroke, Thomas More, and 
Bishop of Rochester. There were 3000 perished here 
when both ends of the bridge were on fire at once. Under 
the arches of the stone stairs leading to the water-side 
many of the cadgers of London burrow, and other gypsy 
tramps, rough and reckless, who in Naples might be 
called the lazzaroni, only the softer climate there makes a 
lazier set. 

ALONG THE THAMES. 

We have begun our outdoor rambles with London Bridge. 
Let us keep along the river-side, up and down between the 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 65 

Temple and the Tower ; London Bridge and London Docks. 
Into this dark and dingy stream of humanity we launch as into 
a swirling, rushing river. Keep your eyes about you, lest 
you are crushed, or run over, or trodden under feet. What 
a tangle of bales and bags, of boxes and baskets, of cranes 
and chains, the adjuncts of busy traffic in the world's 
throbbing center ! Here are storehouses and ware- 
houses ; steam mills and factories ; fish-markets and junk- 
shops, and crowds of costermongers, draymen, sailors, 
carters, clerks, pedlers, and idlers of every hue and nation- 
ality. The swarthy Lascar, the fairer Swede or Dane, 
and the jet-black Negro, all are pushing and pulling, helping 
with hand and tongue to swell the ceaseless roar of business 
that rises from dawn to dark from these narroAv, crowded 
thoroughfares of lower London. The German poet and 
critic H^inrich Heine said that this was the place for a 
philosopher, but not for a poet. The colossal energy, the 
solemn earnestness, the hurry as if in anguish, which the 
tumultuous life of London illustrates, " oppresses the imag- 
ination, and rends the heart in twain." Yet a sweeter spirit, 
Leigh Hunt, has somewhere said that the art of cultivating 
pleasant associations is a secret of happiness. He forgot 
not that Spenser was born at Smithfield, Milton at Cheapside, 
Gray on Cornhill, and Pope on Lombard Street ; that Rose 
Street, though not wholly a rose garden, was Butler's 
home, and not far away were the haunts of Dryden, Pope, 
and Yoltaire, to say nothing of the crowd of poets and 
authors of later date who lived in the din and smoke of 
London. 

TOWER OF LONDON. 

Here we are at the Tower, the most interesting building 
in the world in many respects. This royal fortress is a 
silent volume of English history. Room after room opens 
romance, mystery and tragedy, the thrilling influence of 
which is measured partly by one's acquaintance with the 
facts and partly by his responsiveness to sentiment* 



66 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

Hazlitt said that he was " a slave to the picturesque," and 
it would seem as if the tall, portly beef -eaters who act as 
guides were gotten up in the most picturesque style possi- 
ble. Their immaculate broadcloth frocks, trimmed with 
red braid ; their velvet hats, gay with blue ribbons, and 
their Cockney speech, are decidedly interesting. Speaking 
of Devereux, or somebody else who fell under royal wrath 
and so under a heading ax, our dignified but loquacious 
warder rattled off his story, beginning with the perfectly 
safe remark, " Ef 'eed lived, 'eed never have lost 'is 'ed. 
Now then, 'ear is the silly-brated Toledo blades, werry 
pritty. Over yer 'eds the wall is sixteen feet thick. Show 
yer yaller tickets, please." Then he went from " grave to 
gay, from lively to severe," having an eye to the recompense 
of reward in silver or golden coin which each trip is likely 
to secure. He told me that twenty-one persons made a 
full party, and that he made three journeys daily, one 
hour each. He thought that that was a large day's work. 
I thought it an easy one. Still, he had twice as much 
avoirdupois to carry about, besides a great deal of dignity 
and red taj)e. As Mark (the perfect man) says, " One of 
such awful tonnage should be carried in sections." 

Guide-books give all needed information about the 
ten centuries of history that center here ; the dimensions 
of this vast Bastile ; the facts and legends of its hoary 
stones, and gates, and dungeons, and the statistics of the 
wealth stored up in jewels, diadems and precious relics. 
A single crown shown me had 3066 diamonds, and I was 
told that its value was a million pounds sterling. More 
interesting are the memorials of the gentle Lady Jane 
Grey, of Dudley, Raleigh, Anne Boleyn, and the Princes ; 
the garments worn by the good and great of kingly and of 
civic renown, and the words they had left on wall or window, 
in treasured book and manuscript. In the British Museum, 
also, one of antiquarian tastes will enjoy much in this 
line, besides the treasures of modern science and literature 
gathered there. 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 67 



tussaud's wax figures. 



Coming direct from the British Museum one day to 
Tussaud's Historical Gallery, I was prepared to enjoy the 
latter to its full. It was like the stereopticon pictures that 
follow a lecture, or, ratlier, like an introduction to the very 
scenes described. In the Museum you see the books that 
were handled and the manuscript letters that were written 
by the kings and queens of centuries ago ; in the gallery 
you see the faces and forms of those celebrities, apparently 
instinct with life, ruddy with health, and standing waiting 
to welcome you. The molding in wax, the coloring of the 
complexion, the attitude and grouping, the garments worn, 
and the other accessories, are so thoroughly life-like, 
you can hardly believe that these are not real existences. 
The passing footsteps or the jar of the street often gives 
a tremor to the jewel that hangs from breast or ear, and 
you imagine a rebuke to your impudent stare is about to 
fall from those lips that look so warm and rosy. There sits 
Mary Queen of Scots, ready to be executed, with the rosary 
she held when beheaded, three hundred years ago, slipped 
through her hand and fallen on the floor ; there Jane Grey, 
Marie Antoinette, Anne Boleyn, Catharine Howard, 
Joan of Arc, and many others whose tragic deaths are 
familiar. 

Of the general accuracy of their portraits, size and pro- 
portions, and of the historic fidelity of their drapery and 
general appearance, there can be no doubt. The grave 
seems robbed of the dead, and the dust reanimated, and 
returned to the homes of other days. Here stands the 
kingly form of Henry VIII. in his grand court dress, witli 
all his wives about him, robed in queenly splendor ; Henry 
in., who in 1226 first enjoyed in England the luxury of a 
carpet, introduced from Spain in place of straw and rushes ; 
the present queen and her court ; her late husband and the 
lamented Alice, recently deceased ; the children of the 
Prince of Wales, at play with dog and doll ; the Berlin 



68 OUTDOOR LIFE m EUROPE. 

Congress, the Pope and other Papal dignitaries, and that 
troublesome Arthur Tooth, of the English Church, stiff, 
stern, sad, as if sore and aching under tlie ecclesiastical 
dentistry to which he has been subjected. But time fails to 
tell of all the great reformers like Knox, Calvin and. 
Luther ; statesmen like Palmerston, Brougham, Peel, 
Cobden, and Bright ; the scholars, Shakespeare, Chaucer, 
Wycliffe, Macaulay, Voltaire, Byron, and Scott ; foreign 
potentates, militarj^ men, and celebrities of all periods, 
down to Grant, Lincoln, Andy Johnson, Uncle Tom, and 
Mr. Beecher. 

Pass now into the " Golden Chamber." Here is the bed 
on which Napoleon breathed his last, with the blood-stains 
made by the lancet, vainly used to give relief in his last 
hours from the pain of that cancer of the stomach which 
consumed him ; the cloak he wore at Marengo ; his watch, 
stopped at 2:30, the moment of death ; his other garments, 
his favorite garden chair ; the atlas in which he drew his 
battle plans ; his table ware ; swords, camj) equipage, and 
the carriage in which he rode to the disasters of Russia and 
Waterloo. Here are the garments of Nelson, worn at the 
battle of the Nile, and those of Henry of Navarre, when 
stabbed by Ravaillac, dyed with the blood of the martyred 
king. Finally conies the " Chamber of Horrors," which 
some will do well to omit, and I will not describe, men- 
tioning only the forms of Marat and Robespierre, the key 
of the Bastile, and the original guillotine hj which 22,000 
were decapitated in the first French Revolution, considered 
the most extraordinary relic in London. 

HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 

Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace are not far away, 
Westminster and Belgrave Square, yet amid the rich equi- 
pages and liveiied footmen, here and there mingle the 
poor and humble, the nondescript and castaway. So everj'-- 
where, whether in Pall Mall, with its club-houses, Pater- 
noster Row, the book center^ or in Seven Dials and Devil's 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 69 

Acre, Shoreditcli and Wliitechapel, this great Babylon 
presents continual and startling contrasts. The name does 
not always indicate the present condition of the place, as 
Rosemary Lane for example. Few flowers will you see, 
and little that is agreeable to sight or smell. Localities 
once associated with Burke, Addison, Goldsmith, Boswell, 
and Johnson, are not now quite in keeping with these 
names. But when one thinks of more than four million 
people packed into London, the density of the population is 
evident in the deterioration of certain neighborhoods. I 
was interested in visiting some mission centers and seeing 
what was done for the degraded and desperate classes. 
Several hundred lay missionaries are doing noble service, 
and are not laborino^ in vain. One meetino^ I attended 
among a company of robbers and prostitutes, whom it 
would not be safe to meet under ordinary circumstances 
unprotected. The words of Scripture, of prayer and en- 
treaty, moved some to loud weeping, which showed sin- 
cere through perhaps transient feeling. The " Seven 
Curses of London " have been justly named, " Neglected 
children, professional thieves, professional beggars, fallen 
women, drunkenness, gambling, and last, not least, mis- 
applied alms." Blanchard Jerrold says that £1500 are 
often coaxed from a dinner party of 150 gentlemen at Lon- 
don Tavern, no tax being more willingly paid than the din- 
ner tax, " a grace that follows your meat and sanctifies it," 
to use Thackeray's words. Three thousand unpaid teachers 
give the leisure of their evenings, after days of toil, to the 
work of teaching the street Arabs. This is nobler and 
more fruitful effort than the gift of money to mendicants. 
It was my privilege to mingle with the extremes of societj'^. 
West End life and East End : to enjoy the hospitalities of 
the wealthy, and to look into the homes of the humble. I 
shall not forget the hearty welcome received at a social 
meeting in Deane's Court, near old Baile}^, one night, and 
how eagerly the words of " the stranger from America " 
were heard. Hundi'eds of these beacon lights are burning 



70 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

amid the moral darkness of London. These social gath- 
erings and still larger ones in connection with coffee- 
houses, where music is furnished, offset the attractions of 
the gin palace and the " penny gaff," the rat pits and dance 
halls. In the thieves' Latin the missionary is called " the 
gospel grinder," but he saves many a lost one, who, but for 
him, would go to grind in the prison house of despair. It is 
estimated that one person out of every 150 is a housebreaker, 
thief, forger, or some other kind of qriminal. Nearly all of 
these 25,000 or more are known to the police. On the other 
hand, as James Greenwood observes, each of this predatory 
crew knows the detective and smells " trap " as keenly as a 
fox. The innocent smock-frock or bricklayer's jacket or 
loose neckerchief cannot conceal his approach. They scent 
him from afar, and know when it is safe to " pinch a bob " 
(rob a till), " go snowing " (rob linen), and when it is not 
safe. Their cleverness and subtlety are amazing. Some 
are so seared in conscience as to be apparently desperate. 
Others would welcome honest employment if offered, and 
so escape the hazard, anxiety, and torment of their wolfish 
life. The model houses built by Burdett Coutts and George 
Peabody suggest still another practical form of alleviating 
*the woe and want of London poor. 

LONDON OPIUM DENS. 

It was Saturday night. The streets of London in the 
neighborhood of East India Docks were full of motley 
crowds. Green -grocers, fishwomen and peddlers of odd 
wares had their stands along the edge of the walk. Shouts 
and laughter and coarse voices were heard on every hand. 
Pushing on our way we came to a den, and entered. Dark, 
swarthy faces met us as we peered into the gloom of a rear 
room. My guide first spoke in Malay, then in English. A 
score of tongues serve his use. We Avere directed upstairs 
and entered a dismal dirty attic, a Chinese gambling den. A 
pile of coin lay on the table ; an idol stood near it, with sacred 
sticks burning^, as candles in Romish worship. These are 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 71 

bouglit and burned to ensure success, and also in memory 
of the dead. Anything to swell the keeper's receipts. He 
is well known to the police, but it is not wise to repeat all we 
have heard from his lips. In another den, I saw a China- 
man lying recumbent, beside a dimly burning lamp, the 
feeble light of which lent a lurid glare to a ding}^ cell. 
Raising himself from a greasy pillow he sat up and greeted 
us in broken English. Holding a little of the opium paste 
on the end of a wire, he warmed it in the flame of the 
lamp, then smeared the disk. The drug looks like dry cow 
dung at first, but is boiled to the consistency of treacle. It 
costs about two dollars an ounce ; a costly vice. We re- 
monstrated, and he admitted that it was " No good." 
Joined to his idol, we let him alone. The week before he 
was wedded to a wretched female, an habitue of the neiffh- 
borhood. What a progeny comes from such a stock ! 
Better, indeed, were it never to be born than to have an 
opium den for a cradle, and a courtesan for a nursing 
mother. The next house was a house that leads down to 
hell. It is kept by " a beast of a woman," as my guide 
told me. She was born in Italy, led a Gipsy life, with a 
snake-charmer and juggler for a companion. With a leer 
in her eye and unctuous tones in her speech, she bade us 
enter. We climbed to the smoke-room by a crooked, 
rickety staircase. Ragged papers are pasted over cracked 
and broken window-panes ; cobwebs and filth abound. 
Little do they care who come hither to drown their senses 
in the intoxication of opium. There lies an Arab ; his 
face is black, but between his parted lips, teeth white as 
ivory shine. Some one has said, " The idiot smile and 
death-like stupor of an opium debauchee has something 
more awful than the bestiality of the ordinary drunkard." 
I was glad to get a breath of outside air, poor as that was, 
and I was ill all the night following. 

Shall New York and Chicago import this leprous curse ? 
Shall blear-eyed men and women of our large cities con- 
tinue to stagger out of these dens ? Fearful as is alco- 



1^ OVT-DOOn LIFE IN EUROPE. 

holic intemperance, it is " almost harmless in comparison," 
as a recent writer observes. 

OLD JACOB STOCK. 

I used to follow him in imagination in his daily visits to 
the temple of Plutus, in Threadneedle Street, and see him, 
as described in boyhood readings, the Stout-built, round- 
shouldered, bearish-looking man of hard face and harder 
heart ; with graj^, glassy eye and wrinkled brow, where 
the interest table and the rise and fall of stocks were 
written. Through wind and rain, and hail and sleet, he 
made his journeys from his bachelor abode to the field of 
his speculation, always looking for the main chance. As I 
mingled with the crowds along the street, front of the Ex- 
change and Mansion House, it was easy to pick out Jacob. 
It is pleasant to believe, however, that there are a hundred 
large-hearted men to one crabbed skinflint like Jacob Stock. 
A Leadenhall merchant courteously introduced me into the 
Bank of England, through lines of clerks, depositors, detec- 
tives, beadles and footmen ; through piles of ledgers and 
account-books ; into weighing room and vaults, where 
money was plenty enough to satisfy Shylock himself. One 
of the officials kindly presented me with £2,000,000 in bank 
notes ready for delivery. It was the first time that I had ever 
held between thumb and forefinger ten million dollars in a 
single bunch of bills. For the moment I felt as comforta- 
ble as the penniless preacher did each Sunday who always 
borrowed on Saturday a ten-dollar note, which he returned 
Monday morning. He said that he got along nicely with 
that in his pocket, for he had not yet learned to " preach 
without notes.'''' The officer informed me that he had a 
couple of hundred millions more left of John Bull's money. 
He also tantalized me further by handing over a heavy 
bag of gold. Indeed his liberality was overwhelming. 
Yet I left as poor as I entered. 

LONDON PARKS. 

The family of whom first *I hired lodgings lived near 



ENGLAND AND WALES. T3 

Hyde Park. This has about 400 acres and is beautified 
by a winding stream, the Serpentine. Imposing reviews 
of horse and foot attract thousands to this lovely retreat. 
The Kensington Gardens and Museum are contiguous, also 
Green and St. James parks. The zoological and horticul- 
tural attractions of Regent's Park were fully enjoyed. 
Repeated visits were made to Crystal Palace, Syd(jnham, a 
little way out of town. The grounds embrace 200 acres 
and are embellished with floral beauty, works of art, foun- 
tains, and cascades. The Aquarium and the concerts, the 
opportunities for archer}^, boating, and other athletic exer- 
cises, and the display of industrial and artistic skill furnish 
entertainment to thousands dail}^ Seven million dollars 
have been expended on the palace and grounds. There 
are thirtj'- other " lungs of London," known as parks or 
squares, besides smaller oases and bits of green where the 
eye pastures with as keen delight as do the browsing- 
sheep. 

The stranger gains a more cheerful idea of the great 
metropolis as he walks through these breathing-places and 
sees the happier side of city life. Excursions up and down 
the river, for a penny or more, according to the distance, I 
found exceedingly interesting, as afterwards on the Seine 
at Paris. Greenwich, with its hospital, park, and Royal 
Observatory, Woolwich, with its vast arsenal, Hampton 
Court, with its royal pictures and gardens, Hampstead 
Heath, the haunts of Landseer, Highgate, Epping Forest, 
Stamford Hill, Cheshunt, Rye House, Avith its tragic mem- 
ories, Croyden, Surbiton, Epsom, Ewell, Kingston, where 
Saxon kings were crowned, these places are also remem- 
bered with pleasure. But one is oppressed with the 
abundance of materials. He may remain for years and 
only make a beginning. Were I to describe the indoor 
sights alone ; the churches and preachers ; the galleries of 
pictures examined ; the halls and museums ; the House of 
Commons and its debates ; the dinner parties and the meet- 
ings of learned societies, a bulky volume would be the 



14: OUT-BOOB LIFE IN EUBOPE. 

result. Day after day the surgical cliuics at the Univer- 
sity College Hospital, visits at Queen's Square, Bedlam, 
St. Bartholomew, and other infirmaries occupied my atten- 
tion and brought me into fellowship with eminent phy- 
sicians and surgeons. London's 104 hospitals accommo- 
date 60,000 patients, but 80,000 die uncared for every j^ear. 

Specially was I favored in being able to attend, in 1886, 
at Brighton, the fifty-fourth annual meeting of the British 
Medical Association. Over a thousand doctors from Eng- 
land and other lands assembled for four days in the Royal 
Pavilion, the summer palace of George IV. of long ago. It 
was of this extravagant edifice Byron wrote the sneer 
" Shut up the Pavilion, or 'twill cost another million." Not 
often do we find such sumptuous quarters for the gath- 
ering of scientists. May it, however, prove prophetic of 
the day, referred to by Surgeon-General Billings, U. S. A., 
when Wealth shall more fully become handmaid to Truth 
and Knowledge. The work of this great association is 
done in nine sections. That of Surgery and Psychology 
most engaged my attention. It was pleasant to see and 
speak with men like Erichson, Hack Tuke, Professor Char- 
cot of Paris, and Sir Henry Thompson, whose fame is 
world-wide. I had been invited in June to accompany 
Dr. Tuke on a visit to Shakespeare's " Bedlam," founded as 
an ancient hospicium in 1247. It became an insane retreat 
in 1400, and now has about 260 patients. Professor Victor 
Horsley kindly notified me of an operation June 22, at the 
" National," Queen's Square, London, where I saw him re- 
move a tumor of the brain for epilepsy. The patient 
recovered and was at the meeting at Brighton, where the 
case was described and photographs shown by the lantern 
of the steps of the operation, " the most remarkable appli- 
cation of pure science to practical surgery that has ever 
been brought to the notice of the profession," as Erichson 
said, " one that opens a new era, that of cerebral surgery." 

" We touch and go, and sip the foam of many lives," 
says Emerson. This is a " touch and go " out-door ramble. 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 15 

Only a sip is had here and there of the wine of life. To 
rural scenes we turn once more. 

WINDSOR AND ETON. 

" 'Tis always sunrise somewhere in the world," was the 
cheery word of Richard Henry Home. Out of the roar 
and rush of London, its smoke and fog, and once more 
amid the sunny fields of Middlesex and Berkshire, you are 
ready to accept the same ojitimist view of life. Windsor 
Castle, the superb chapel, the Long Walk, the exquisite 
view of the valley of the Thames, and Eton College be- 
yond, can never be forgotten. "It was at Eton that 
Waterloo was won ! " once said the L'on Duke. Founded 
before America was known, this college has grown to be 
one of the richest in the world. The most eminent peers 
of the realm were trained here, besides English commoners 
of equal ability. It is said to have never lost its monastic 
aspect. In early daj^s the students were roused at five by 
the loud shout /Surgite ! uttered by a prepostor. To econ- 
omize time, probably, a morning pi-ayer was ordered to be 
said while they were dressing and making their beds. It 
would seem that no time was given to air the bedding. 
The private wash-up was followed by public worship at 
6 A.M. A prepostor then examined the face of each and his 
hands to see if they were clean. After this preposterous 
performance, studies were begun. Friday was flogging- 
day. Stanton says that this form of mental stimulus is 
still not unfrequently applied to youthful Etonians. 

BRISTOL AND MR. MULLER. 

At Bristol I visited the orphan schools of that beloved 
man of God, Rev. George Muller. The physical vitality 
and mental freshness of this octogenarian is only surpassed 
by his spiritual vigor and productiveness. With him and his 
esteemed wife I visited the five orphan houses, tarrying in 
one long enough to hear a brief exercise by the children. 
His tall, erect form, his neat attire, with a conspicuous 



7G OUTDOOR LIFE lA EUliOrE. 

white cravat, and above all Ms luminous pietj^, make the 
appositeness of Mr. Beecher's simile very striking, " One of 
the Lord's wax candles." 

Bristol is an old historic center, full of enticing interest. 
Here were born, or resided, Sebastian Cabot, Oliver Crom- 
well, Sir Humphre}^ I^av}^, Sir Edmund Burke, Hallam, 
Hume, Robert Hall, John Foster, Bishop Butler, John 
Harris, Canon Kingslej^, Cottle, Coleridge, Southey, Han- 
nah More, Jane Porter, Eugenia, afterwards Empress, and 
others of less note, but still eminent in literature or in 
political life. I visited the birthplace of Chatterton. It 
is believed that Gray deserves the credit of discovering the 
literary forgeries of Chatterton, detecting in these pseudo- 
productions of old times the modern word ^Ys. This "sleep- 
less soul that perished in his pride," as Wordsworth puts it, 
presents a tragic picture of a brilliant but lawless genius, 
preferring suicide at seventeen to a life of mortified ambi- 
tion. 

I spent a month during the summer of 1886 on Clifton 
Downs, opposite the bridge over the Avon. Excursions 
in the Leigh woods, down the river, to Pennpole cliff, 
Shirehampton, Avonmouth; to Cheptow Castle, along the 
winding Wye, Windcliff, Tintern Abbey, and a day in the 
Forest of Dean, 22,000 acres, where Goodrich Castle and 
Symond's Yat, or cliff, attract the lovers of the picturesque, 
the geologist and antiquary as well, there would require 
a volume fully to rehearse. 

The wonderful Cheddar Cliffs and caves, 18 miles 
from Bristol ; Keynsham, Stapleton Glen, and Dundry's 
lofty church tower, 900 feet above the Severn, — Bath, the 
old Roman city with its lovely Abbey, its exhumed baths, 
park, gardens, and cliff ; rambles through " leafy War- 
wickshire," near Kenilworth; Hereford, Monmouth, Wor- 
cester, with castles, churches, and cathedrals, each invite 
detailed description, but I turn to a district which is called 
" a pocket edition of England," and a bright epitome of 
all her beauties, namely, 



ENGLAND AND WALES. 11 

THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 

Crossing at Spithead I rode on the top of a stage-coach 
from Ryde to Newport, seven miles, and the following 
morning nine miles further, in a low, light, easy vehicle 
called a " fly." Stopping at Carisbrook Castle, the warder 
answered the bell and took me through this historic ruin, 
to the room where Princess Elizabeth died, to the window 
through which corpulent Charles vainly tried to squeeze, 
and to the castle well, which the guide made to be 240 feet 
deep, enlarging its dimensions, perhaps, to suit the Ameri- 
can taste for exaggeration. 

On we drove through villages and quiet lanes, shaded 
with groves of nut ; by velvet lawns and romantic holloAvs, 
odorous with the breath of that cloudless midsummer's 
morning. Leigh Richmond's tract " Dairyman's Daugh- 
ter," lay on my knees, and as my juvenile driver did not 
disturb the restful silence, I had nothing to do but to en- 
joy the scene and verify the description. There were the 
"lofty hills with navy signal posts, obelisks and light- 
houses on their summits," and across " the rich cornfields, 
the sea with ships at various distances." From Thursday 
till Monday I was the guest of Mr. C, at Freshwater Bay, 
whose elegant manor house was situated in a park of 700 
acres by the banks of the Yar, near the Needles, Alum Bay, 
Yarmouth, and not far f rom .Farringf ord, awhile the reyi- 
denec of the poet laureate. Day after day, excursions were 
made on foot or by boat or by carriage to interesting locali- 
ties, and when the Sabbath came it was a rare pleasure to re- 
alize what every tourist should aim to enjoy, at least once, a 
Sunday in the rural districts of England. No one had given 
me so vivid a picture of it as Irving in the " Sketch Book."* 

* " It is a pleasing sight of a Sunday morning, when the bell is 
sending its sober melody across the quiet fields, to behold the peas- 
antry in their best finery, with ruddy faces and modest clieerfulness, 
thronging tranquilly along the green lanes to church," and at even- 
ing " about their cottage doors, appearing to exult in the humble 
comforts which their own hands have spread around them." 



18 OUT-BOOB LIFE IN EUROPE. 

How cool and sweet the air, as we pass under the oak 
and ilex by the roadside, through the wicket gate and 
strawberry sprinkled patch into the vestibule whose gray 
arches were chiseled seven centuries ago ! Sit here by the 
open window through which comes the odor of new-mown 
hay, while the gush of organ music rises, swells, and dies 
away in distant aisle, cloister, and chapel. See that aged 
clerk who rises with the rector to lead our responses. Hia 
hair is white with nearly eighty winters. He soon will lift 
his Nunc Dimittis and leave his bodily sanctuary as silent 
as this will be in an hour. Those children before him, with 
daffodils and daisies in their hands, are June close by De- 
cember. Their voices blend sweetly with his in song, as 
flute with reed. The preacher tells us of the loving 
Saviour healing the demoniac daughter. Now he bids us 
tarry to celebrate the Memorial Supper. " Take and eat 
this, in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed 
on him in thy heart by faith and with thanksgiving." 
Surely it is good to be here. " How amiable are thy taber- 
nacles, O Lord of hosts ! A day in thy courts is better 
than a thousand." Delightful, too, are the memories of 
that happy home where culture and wealth are sanctified 
by religion, and where Sunday to all the children and ser- 
vants was "the queen of the week." After the second 
church service, 3 p.m., books and pictures, song and prayer, 
quiet strolls through the groves and gardens, with profit- 
able converse by the way, made the daylight speed. Then 
before evening prayers were had in the drawing-room, 
" capping verses " from the Bible, and matching words to 
tlie same, proved a lively exercise. " A " being given out, 
each person must instantly repeat from memory a verse be- 
ginning with that letter. Or the word " House " being se- 
lected b}^ one of the circle, the rest must recite from mem- 
ory some verse that contains it. 

The delicious repose of that August Sunday was a fit 
prelude to the busy, brilliant scenes amid which I was to 
mingle at Paris, for which place the next morning saw me 



FRANCE AND BELGIUM. 79 

started, leaving Southampton with a crowd of passengers 
bound for the Continent. The weather was charming 
and all seemed bright and jubilant. 



CHAPTER IV. 

France and Belgium. 

walks about paris. 

We speak of London the busy, Paris the beautiful. 
London is the world's workshop, Paris the world's drawing- 
room. The loveliness of her situation, the wealth of her 
people, and the glory of her history have alike dazzled and 
bewitched men. No people, according to De Tocqueville, 
were ever " so fertile in contrasts, more under the domin- 
ion of feeling, and less ruled by principle ; unchangeable in 
leading features, yet so fickle in its daily opinions that at 
last it becomes a mystery to itself; qualified for every pur- 
suit, but excellent in nothing but war ; endowed with more 
genius than common-sense, more heroism than virtue." 
The truth of this discriminating survey of the character of 
his countrymen by this eminent French philosopher is cor- 
roborated by intelligent foreigners who have long lived 
here, like Tuckerman, who says that, in its last analysis, 
life is delusive ; appearance takes the place of reality, and 
volubility that of service. Evanescence is the law of hap- 
piness ; civilization is materialistic ; life is filled with vain 
diversions, and in its impulsive, sensuous flow, becomes a 
continuous melodrama, the spiritual element wanting and 
the deepest wants unsatisfied. 

By the single word " Frenchified," men, in colloquial 
style, have described that whicli is showy and artificial, 
empty and puerile. The painted wreaths sold at the gates 
of cemeteries, the powdered hair, enameled cheeks, and 
other absurdities illustrate this fact of shallowness of life 



80 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

and thouglit. But a better day has dawned. Nobler ideas 
are taking root in France. The lessons of the last decade 
are not forgotten. Good men and true are making them- 
selves felt in private and public posts of influence, and the 
truths of Protestant Christianity are developing a purer, 
more virile life. Visits to the McAll mission stations cer- 
tified to this fact. 

PRE^vTCH CHARACTER. 

French character is still a riddle. Hazlitt thinks that he 
solves it when he says, " There is mobility without mo- 
mentum. The face is commonly too light and variable for 
repose ; restless, rapid, extravagant, without de23th or 
force." Admitting that the French are superior to the 
English in delicacy and refinement, he thinks that the for- 
mer are frivolous and shallow. Their Pere la Chaise is a 
sort of baby-house, with idle ornaments and mimic finery ; 
full of effeminate and theatric extravagances, such as befit 
a masquerade ; a pleasure resort where " death seems life's 
playfellow, and grief and smiling content sit at one tomb 
together." But he admits that he changes his opinions 
" fifty times a day," because at every step he would form 
a theory of French character which at the next step is con- 
tradicted. 

Le Compte says it is the fault of the French that " they 
are too serious." Gravity and levity are queerly mingled. 
They are sometimes gay in serious matters and grave in 
trifles, as has been noticed when under the spell of some 
dramatic representation, but the jump is sudden to the other 
extreme. 

The French are fond of perfumes, but often insensible to 
ill odors. They deal in scents, and have fifty sorts of 
snuffs, but " hang over a dung-hill as if it were a bed of 
roses, or swallow the most detestable dishes with the great- 
est relish." French life and English life are, however, 
developed under different conditions, both in city and 
country. 



FRANCE AND BELGIUM. 81 

INDOOR AND OUTDOOR. 

An English writer says that at home everything is made 
domestic and commodious, but daily vocations are carried 
on indoors. Life is framed and set in comforts, but is 
wanting in the vivid coloring and glowing expression of 
outdoor activity as on the Continent. In France, " life 
glows or spins carelessly around on its soft axle. The 
same animal spirits that supply a fund of cheerful thoughts 
break out into all the extravagances of mirth and social 
glee. The air is a cordial to them, and they drink drams 
of sunshine. You see the women, with their red petticoats 
and bare feet, washing clothes in the river instead of stand- 
ing over a wash-tub ; a girl sitting in the sun ; a soldier 
reading ; a group of old women chatting in a corner, and 
laughing till their sides are ready to split ; or a string of 
children tugging a fishing-boat out of the harbor as the 
evening sun goes down, and making the air ring with their 
songs." 

CHANGES IN PARIS. 

During the Crimean War, I found Paris a lively, stirring 
center. The Rue de Rivoli had just been finished, and 
activity in building everywhere was seen. I saw the 
Emperor walking in the gardens of the Tuileries, in the 
garb of a citizen. Standing in 1879 on the same spot, 
amid the ruins of that palace, and recalling the sad fortunes 
of that royal household, and of Paris, I could not rei)ress 
the feeling of melancholy. The cloudy sky and the chilly 
air, which made an overcoat desirable ; the withered leaves 
that had prematurely fallen, and were blown about as in late 
autumn, and the deserted look of that usually brilliant 
resort deepened this feeling. Noticing the workmen who 
were changing the inscription on the frieze of the Chamber 
of Deputies, I remarked to a citizen that I had noticed, 
painted on the Notre Dame, " Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite." 
With mingled despondency and sarcasm he replied, " Yes, 
they may change these every ten years," and then went on, 



S'2 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

in a different tone, to say that he believed that the bulk of 
his people preferred the Republic to a Monarchy. "X'em- 
2nre^ c'est la paix^'' has no longer the charm which such a 
phrase once had, and the hope of the imperialists, "the 
peasantry will not desert us," has also gone. 

Police surveillance in 1855 was strict. I was told that 
my books and papers one day had been examined in my 
absence, as was customary on the arrival of foreigners. 
But on my next visit the concierge simply required my 
signature to a blank, without filling up with statements, 
age, nationality, profession, object of visit, and last place 
of sojourn. It was, he said, rdainly for Frenchmen, not 
for foreigners. More than once, on the Continent, the 
simple word " American," quietly spoken, has secured from 
various officials a courtesy and respect which they did not 
seem to show to their own people. In this connection the 
shrewdness of French thieves may be noticed, as for exam- 
ple, in a car, the use of false hands which lie on the knees, 
while real hands are in your pockets. It is mortifying to 
add that a robbery requiring special cleverness is called 
" Tin vol dVAmericaine,^'' and that there is a gambling 
game known simply as " Boston." 

The first day after my arrival I accepted an invitation to 
dine with a reputed American millionaire on Rue de la 
Paix. The occasion was a novelty and delight. We were 
surrounded by the display of princely wealth. Furniture and 
embellishments were after the most pretentious style, and 
servants were in the most costly livery. After an imposing 
feast of ten courses had been served, our thoughts turned to 
our native land, and we joined in the old-time melodies of 
" Carmina Sacra " and " Home, Sweet Home." Then the 
horses were ordered, a drive was enjoyed through the 
princii^al boulevards and around Bois de Boulogne. 

Everybody knows that Paris in the glare of gaslight, 
with its population out of doors, is more brilliant than by 
day. The fountains sparkle ; the trees of the Elysian 
Fields are lighted with Chinese lanterns ; the orchestra 



FRANCE AND BELGIUM. 83 

strikes up ; the dancing girls appear, and the bibulous 
multitude sit around the pavilion at little tables and drink 
and smoke. The Lord's Day is a time of special hilarity. 
I attended service at the Madeleine. A verger or beadle, 
superbly dressed, carried a golden staff and strutted up and 
down the central aisle as pompously as the man in London 
did whom Theodore Hook once accosted with — " Excuse 
me, sir ; allow me to ask if you are anybody in particular ? " 
A gendarme, with cockade and sword, also did service, and 
a third held a swab wet in " holy " water, against which 
the smutty fingers of the beggar and the white kids of the 
aristocrat alike pressed. The bowings of priests, the gen- 
uflections, processions, recessions, chanting and burning of 
incense were not wholly edifying, so I crossed Rue Royal 
to the Protestant Chapel and heard an excellent sermon 
in English. " Come, let us join our friends above," was 
sung to old " Arlington " with a tender sweetness that can 
never be forgotten. A vi'^it to the Exhibition of 1855, to 
the Louvre, Hotel Dieu, the Morgue, Pere la Chaise, Palace 
of the Luxembourg and the Bourse need no detailed descrip- 
tion. The names of the streets often record their history. 
Rue des Martyrs was trodden by saintly men who sealed 
their faith in blood on Montmartre, and Rue Pierre Levee, 
" street of the raised stone," tells the location of the altars 
of Druidic sacrifice. So as you walk on you think of St. 
Bartholomew, the Revolution, the Commune, and other 
baptisms of blood. You forget the gayety of the present 
in the tragedies of the past. 

The river bath-houses are worth visiting. From eight sous 
upward I found a room, tub and water, but neither towel 
nor soap. These are extras. Some one tells of wine baths, 
in which a lover of the beverage may sit and sip and sw^im at 
pleasure. After his ablution is finished the ruby tide is drawn 
off into the next room, and No. 2 has his fill at a lower fig- 
ure. Perhaps No. 3 maj^ find, as he tastes, that the wine has 
considerable " body " to it. Having washed a score of dirty 
fellows it is bottled, on dlt^ for exportation to New York ! 



84 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

Veesailles gave me a pleasant idea of the environs. 
The railway carriage had two stories, and so an unob- 
structed view was had of the valley of the Seine, with its 
charming chateaux, vineyards and flower gardens. This 
ride, like other trips from Havre, Dieppe, Rouen, and also 
in the south of France, furnished swift yet suggestive pic- 
tures of rural life in different districts. The substantial 
railroads, grand viaducts and bridges everywhere present a 
contrast to many seen in America. 

To tell of the Palace of Versailles, its paintings, its 
statues, its gardens and parks, and the associations awak- 
ened in the mind of a historic dreamer, language fails. 
Sevres, St. Cloud, and Fontainebleau are full of interest, 
yet you may spend months in Paris, visiting her libra- 
ries, studios, churches, galleries, political, literary and 
religious centers, and only imperfectly explore her 

treasures. 

One should, of course, be able to speak French to fully 
profit by a visit long or short. One poor fellow of inquisi- 
tive mind, knowing only English, wandered about Paris 
one day asking questions of all sorts, onl}^ to receive the 
uniform shrug and " Je ne sais pas^ As the day waned, a 
funeral passed and the prying quidnunc stopped a stranger 
with the question, " Who's dead ? " '' Je ne sais pas.'''' " Is 
he really ? Good ! He has troubled me all day ; I'm glad 
he's gone ! " 

ON TO BRUSSELS. 

Going from Paris to Brussels, I noted St. Denis, the 
burial-place of French kings ; Amiens, where the treaty of 
1802 was concluded between England and France ; Valen- 
ciennes, on the Scheldt and Quievrain, where customs are 
collected ; Mons, strongly fortified, and Braine le Compte, 
built by Brennus in Caesar's day. The Belgic capital is 
called a miniature Paris, and my first impressions were very 
favorable, although I was much mortified in entering a 
French hotel, and putting in French the usual queries about 
accommodation, to be answered in good English ! I w-as 



FRANCE AND BELOIUM. 85 

well housed and cared for, nor did the Duchess of Rich- 
mond, with " sound of revelry by night," disturb our 
slumbers, as on the eve of Waterloo, when " all went merry 
as a marriage bell," and joy was unconfined. 

" The midnight brought the signal sound of strife, 
The morn the marshaling in arms — the day, 
Battle's magnificently stern array ! 
The thunder-clouds close o'er it . . . 
Rider and horse, friend, foe — in one red burial blent ! " 

The visitor to-day in Brussels will find, as in Paris, the 
old quarters and the new ; the palace of the king and park ; 
breezy boulevards and gay cafes ; museums and theaters, 
and its bloody memories of revolutions with which Motley 
makes us familiar. The spire of the Hotel de Ville, 370 feet 
high, commands a view of the field of Waterloo. Its ban- 
queting hall and gallery of pictures should not be missed. 
The lace and carpet factories are not devoid of interest. 
Pictures of the Flemish school abound, naturalistic rather 
than ideal, meritorious in some technicalities of art rather 
than in intellectual or profoundly spiritual characteristics. 
Passing though Mechlin, j^ou think of her thread-lace, and 
damask, and at Louvain of the great university, attended 
once by 6000 students. Jansenius, the Augustinian reformer, 
was professor there in 1630. Liege is the Birmingham of 
Belgium. Its old palace is the scene of " Quentin Durwand" 
by Scott, and full of attractiveness to the antiquary. The 
influence of the rich, proud merchants of the middle ages 
was seen in art as well as in commerce, as the costly hotels 
de ville testify. So in the matter of attire. Velvet coats, 
trimmed with gold and rare furs, were worn by the haughty 
Hansards. A deputation once waited on Charles V. They 
took off their rich robes to sit on, as the benches were wood. 
When they turned to go out, a valet reminded them that 
they had left their outer garments on the seat. " AVe are 
not wont to carry away our cushiotis with us ! " was the 
scornful response, These burghers loved literature, tpo. 



86 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

Their Chambers of Rhetoric and dramatic moralization 
showed the taste of the guild. 

ANTWERP. 

Antwerp is but 28 miles from Brussels. The pen and 
pencil of Fairholt had long ago whetted appetite for what 
is here to be enjoyed in art and historic romance. Many 
of the early art-treasures were destroyed in the days of the 
Duke of Alva and Philip II., " monsters of cold-hearted 
ferocity," as Motley calls them. The history of the town 
is one of conflict from the beginning. Its name, Hand- 
'werpe7i — " to cast a hand " — records the tradition of the 
giant Antigon, who cut off the hand of every mariner who 
refused tribute as he entered the Scheldt. One of Caesar's 
officers, Brabant, is said to have conquered him and built 
the city, hence the Seignory Brabant. At present the ma- 
terial prosperity of Antwerp is rapidly increasing. Its 
commerce extends, elegant buildings are erected, new 
boulevards and parks opened, and the American street cars 
are running. But society is not free from the fetters of 
ignorance and priestcraft. The enjoyment of the works of 
art is marred by seeing them made " ecclesiastical peep- 
shows." The mellow sweetness of the Cathedral bells 
can not make us forget that Castilian butchers, in by-gone 
days, were slaying thousands of citizens, while these bells 
rang on merrily as ever, and others suffered a longer death 
under the tortures of the Inquisition. The cells, bolts, and 
chains of the dungeons are yet shown, and the holes in the 
arched roof through which the voice of the tortured reached 
the scribe above, who recorded what had been wrung from 
the martyr. You also see the aperture in the stony 
floor through which the dying or dead were thrown 
into a deep pit beneath the prisons. At Bruges, the 
bloody banner of the Inquisition is preserved, crimson 
in color, as is meet, and edged with gold fringe. The 
forms of Jesus and his Mother, and angels, are repre- 
sented on the faded satin, a ghastly satire, when the 



FRANCE AND BELGIUM^ 87 

diabolical scenes are recalled in connection with which this 
was used. 

THE HOME OF RUBENS. 

The name of Rubens gives a glory to this Belgian city 
which the people are not slow to acknowledge. His sump- 
tuous mansion was erected after his marriage in 1609, at a 
cost of 60,000 florins. His studio, like the rotunda of the 
Pantheon, had a single light in the dome that set off with 
peculiar effect his marbles, intaglios and antique curiosities. 
The chair he used is now kept in the picture-gallery, and 
bears the date 1623. He died in 1640. His " Descent from 
the Cross " is a masterpiece of art, before which the greatest 
painters have stood with wondering admiration. What 
Titian's art was to Venice, or Michael Angelo's to Rome, 
Rubens' work is to Antwerp. His princely, prodigal 
genius, so exuberant, joyous, and thoroughly human, has 
charmed the lovers.j^f material beauty and brilliant realistic 
art. His pictures are an emphatic outflow of himself, as 
Jarves has said, full of intense life, vehement movement 
and amorous ardor, " poured on his canvas as if from a con- 
jurer's inexhaustible bottle. He is jovial, sensuous, hand- 
some, magnificent, a zealous Catholic with liberal instincts, 
and despising asceticism." That Antwerp should devote 
$90,000 and ten days to the commemoration of Rubens's 
birth is proof of something more than mere sentimentality. 
When the fine arts are better appreciated in America, there 
will be founded institutions for art culture, and galleries for 
the exhibition of those artistic productions which are a 
credit to the higher instincts of any people. Real art- 
education, it is said, did not begin in England till 1851. 
America does well to care first for "the coarse arts," to use 
Theodore Parker's phrase — as the ancient Etruscan first 
sought good air, water, drainage, and crops. The mind and 
soul are, however, more than the body, and spiritual ideas 
more than mere animal satisfaction. 

Next to Titian stands Vandyke, the pupil of Rubens. 
Says Allan Cunningham, " No one has equaled him in 



B8 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

manly dignity. His portraits are likely to remain the 
wonder of all nations." David Teniers, another pupil, and 
his son, of the same name, were also natives of Antwerp. 
In one painting by the younger Teniers are 1138 figures. 
One can spend many days in the Museum, churches and 
cathedral studying art, or perhaps with more profit in the 
busy streets, studying real life at the market-place, where 
bright, clean, ruddy Flemish women gather with all sorts of 
ware ; where butcher, drayman, baker and milkmaid meet; 
along the docks, and down the Scheldt, where ships of all 
nations float ; in the Zoological Gardens, unsurpassed on the 
Continent, and among the silk weavers. Yet most of tourists, 
like myself, have tarried but a day, which is better than to 
omit it. The melody of those bells is itself an inspiration, 
"^reat Carolus" weighs 16,000 pounds, nearly as much as 
Great Tom of Oxford. Sixteen stalwart men are required 
to ring it. There are 98 brazen companions of varying sizes, 
a sweet carillon, that for 350 j'-ears, from dawn to dark, has 
pealed forth mellow music, high, airy and melodious, above 
the discords of the street. 

*' Through the balmy air of night 
How they ring out their delight! 
Then from out their sounding shells 
What a gush of- euphony voluminously swells I** 

Once heard, they haunt the imagination forever. 



CHAPTER V. 
Holland and Geemany. 
eottekdam. 

" That is Holland ! Don't you see that spire ? " I rubbed 
my eyes, but gave it up. Soon out of the sea there rose a 
faint line, like a low cloud, and then sandbanks and wind- 
mills appeared. Ten hours from Harwich. It was a pleas- 
ant morning, that 29th of July, 1879. The Custom House 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 80 

officer reminded us of our " duties " in a tongue which I 
could not understand. I simply opened my satchel, and, to 
what seemed an inquiry, ventured an English " No." " Sut 
it up," said Blue Coat, as he pasted the words " Gezien ; 
gren regten betaald " on the outside — " Seen; no duty paid." 
At 9 A.M. we reached Rotterdam. 

Leaving luggage at the station, I made a beginning of the 
day's perambulations by going to the Groote Markt and 
the " Plouse of the Thousand Terrors." Declining the aid 
of guides, who knew English no better than I knew Dutch, 
by simply repeating the word "Erasmus," with upward 
inflection, and pointing onward — watching at the same time 
the answering hand — I soon came to the bronze statue of the 
great theologian, opposite which was the first of Rotter- 
dam's historical relics sought by me — a quaint old corner 
house, built centuries ago. 

HOUSE OF THE THOUSAND TERRORS. 

When Spanish murderers deluged the town with blood 
in 1572, several hundreds took refuge in this building. 
Having closed the heavy window-shutters and barricaded 
the door, they killed a kid and let the crimson stream flow 
out over the threshold. Seeing the blood, the red-handed 
marauders concluded that the work of butchery had been 
finished, and passed by the place. I entered, and found 
that the ground floor was occupied as a haberdasher's shop. 
Outside, in the square, the hucksters made a tempting display 
of sjtrawberries and raspberries, which they sold for a few 
pennies per quart. They found me a ready purchaser, for 
the quality of the fruit was excellent. 

DUTCH CUSTOMS. 

Do you see that melancholy man, in sable habiliments 
and black cocked hat ? He is the ghostly messenger of 
death — " Annsprecker," undertaker's man — carrying funeral 
announcements to friends and kinsmen. In some towns, 
eilk-covered cushions in the windows tell of birth. If red 



90 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

lace or paper is displayed, a hoy has arrived ; if white, a 
girl. Immunities from civil suits are granted for some 
days, and also special quiet secured for the mother. Bul- 
letins are posted daily in the window where there is sick- 
ness, informing friends of the condition of the sufferer. 

Dutch dress is droll, particularly the huge wooden shoes 
worn by man and maid — " ferry-boats " rather than fairy 
boots — and, what is stranger still, gilded shells or helmets 
fitted to female skulls, with small wires twisted into a horn 
or conical rat-trap shape, pushing out . from under the 
whitest and stiffest of lace caps. A basket of flowers is 
sometimes fixed to the top of the hair. Nothing more 
quaint and odd is anywhere to be seen than the varied head- 
gear of the women. You are diverted, too, by the pictur- 
esque old canals, with the strange vessels and barges, with 
their occupants. What studies for a painter ! The sails 
have perhaps been soaked in a decoction of oak bark, as 
those of Hebridean fishermen. They lie in puffy heaps 
upon the deck. A huge wing or paddle is fastened on either 
side. A woman may be seen holding the long crooked 
rudder top, or more likely dashing her soap and water about 
the deck ; for, of all people, the Hollanders do most love 
to scrub and scour. Street and pavement, floor and Avindow, 
pot and kettle, face and hands pi'oclaim the fact. Every- 
body knows that they are a church-going people ; but 
public worship is not more esteemed than private wash-up. 

If you wish to see Dutch cleanliness run mad, says Fair- 
hold, you must visit Broeck, four miles out of Amsterdam. 
You walk into this village, for horses and carriages are not 
allowed. Even Alexander the Emperor was obliged to take 
off his shoes before entering a house. A pile of wooden 
shoes is seen at doors. They cost from threepence a pair 
upward, and sometimes are lined with list. A patten is 
often secured to horses' feet, making him web-footed. Both 
these clumsy appendages are needed in a soft, boggy soil, 
which in some placessinks six inches a year — besides sink- 
ing a deal of money. It would seem hard to keep up cour- 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 91 

age wHere everything sinks excepting taxes ; these are very 
high. The ancient coat of arms of the province of Zealand is 
a lion half swallowed in the sea, with the motto, " Luctor et 
emergo"("I struggle and keep above water"). In 1825, 
Amsterdam came within fifteen minutes of being over- 
whelmed. The tides conspired with the Rhine and the 
Meuse, and the great dykes were all but covered. As it 
was, it took two years to repair the damage. The houses 
of Broeck are only entered by the back door. The steps 
are removed from the front door. This entrance is used but 
at births, burials, and marriages. " Nothing can exceed 
the brightness of the paint, the polished tiles on the roof, 
or the perfect freedom from dirt exhibited by the cottages. 
The rage for keeping all tidy even tampers with the dearest 
of a Dutchman's treasures, his pipe, for it is stipulated 
that he wear over it a wire network, to prevent the ashes 
from falling on the footpaths." 

Dutch dairies deserve notice. Holland has been termed 
the Paradise of Cows. They yield more milk, richer in 
quality and better adapted for butter and cheese making, 
than almost any breed in the world. The cattle are white 
and black, well shaped, trim, shorter horned than Durham, 
large framed, and very gentle. Yet in milking the cow the 
hind legs as well as the tail are tied, for they are some- 
what like deponent verbs in Latin, passive in form but very 
active in nature. 

A Dutch market-place is both bewildering and bewitch- 
ing, particularly at night, when the blazing flambeaux and 
bawling voices are suggestive of Bedlam. Not only are 
fruits, vegetables, fish, and other kinds of foods for sale, but 
clothing, books, dry goods, hardware, and all kinds of mer- 
chandise. Most of the venders can say " Sixpence," or some 
simple English word indicative of price, so that, with the 
pantomime to aid, the purchase is easily effected if you wish 
to buy. 

The trams were new and elegant. Unlike the American 
street cars, the alarm bell was fastened to the car instead 



92 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

of the horse. The driver pulled it when turning a corner or 
approaching a team. The seats were covered with red 
velvet cushions, and three large fixed glass sashes made the 
sides. Riding out into the suburbs I saw the residences of 
the wealthier poeple, with parks and ponds and shad}^ 
avenues. Flowering plants adorned the windows, and the 
itinerant musician, as at home, pursued his vocation in the 
streets and court-yards. 

From the boomjes (boom-kis) a steamer runs up ten 
miles to 

THE TOWN OF DORT. 

DoET is an ancient town surrounded by windmills and 
living by the timber trade. Its narrow streets and antique 
houses with nodding fronts are said to be most thoroughly 
representative of any Dutch city. The historic memories of 
the great Synod in 1618 ; of the Assemblies of the States of 
Holland ; a view of the spot where, under a linden tree that 
fronted an old doelen or military rendezvous, the reformers 
first preached in 1572 ; and a visit to the birthplaces of Cuyp 
and Ary Scheffer, will repay the tourist for a few hours' 
delay. I regret that I did not tarry, but utter ignorance of 
the language, as well as a long itinerary before me, pre- 
vented. This little island of Dort is Holland proper — 
Holt-land or woo(J^^d land — the first settlers coming here in 
the early centuries and redeeming the district from the sea. 
The windmills saw wood, grind grain, and drain the country 
of water by lifting it to higher conduits which empty 
the superfluous water into the sea when the tide allows. 

It is a marvel where, in this tame, flat and monotonous 
region, Cuyp got materials and inspiration to paint his 
golden sunsets, his gems of landscape scenery that in aerial 
perspective, delicacy, and Venetian warmth of color have 
won for him. the epithet of the Dutch Claude Lorraine. 
His moonlight pictures and Avinter scenes are wonderful 
and entirely after nature, mostly in and about Dort. 
Wholly different was the spiritual genius of Ary Scheffer, 
whose Christus Consolator, Dante and Beatrice, and Faust 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 93 

are widely known and universally admired. Nor could I 
give the haunts of Rembrandt about Leyden the attention 
they deserved. The history of this miller's boy is a poem, 
from the hour when he watched the stray sunbeam that 
pierced the roof of his father's mill, and learned how to 
mino^le somber shade and vivid sunlio-ht. Without the aus- 
tere sevei'ity of Ruysdael he puts grandeur as well as grace 
into his compositions. Nor was he governed by moods and 
caprice. He was untiringly industrious. Fairholt tells of 
a holiday dinner to which the painter was invited. After 
being seated at the table, a servant was sent to procure 
some mustard at a shop not far away. Rembrandt wagered 
with his host, a burgomaster of Amsterdam, that he would 
etch the view from the window before the servant returned. 
He did it. The plate was sold in 1844 for about ninety 
dollars, and is known as the " mustard pot." 

The patience as well as industry of some of the Dutch 
artists is illustrated in Gerard Douw, who was willing to 
spend three days in painting a broom that stood in the 
corner of one of his pictures. 

Let no one miss of seeing Delft, with its relics of the 
Prince of Orange, Haarlem in the Arcadia, and Leyden 
with its memories of a siege, 1574, terrible like that of 
Londonderry, in which thousands succumbed, and interest- 
ing as the resting-place of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1609. I 
had a ticket from Rotterdam to Amsterdam through these 
places, but owing to General Ignorance — an uncomfortable 
companion — I got on a train at Gonda Junction which 
took me by Utrecht instead. Nowhere in Europe did Gen. 
L give me more annoyance. 

The Hague, according to Lord Chesterfield, is " the 
most delightful city in Europe." Seeing this gay court 
city under the most fortunate circumstances, when its 
palaces and Houses of Parliament, its churches and aristo- 
cratic mansions, its gardens, parks and squares were briglit 
with sunshine, when the balni}' air had drawn the people 
into the streets, and when the watering season was at its 



94 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

height, filling Scheveningen with crowds of pleasure- 
seekers, I was almost ready to endorse the sentiment. A 
ride of twenty minutes along shady avenues of oak and 
lime trees brought me to this seaside resort, the Brighton 
of Holland, where William III. was born in 1817, and the 
point from which Charles II. embarked to resume the sove- 
reignty of England. Twenty-four hours before, I was stand- 
ing amid the afternoon bathers at Brighton, England. 
Only four hours by rail to Harwick and a few more by 
steamer to Rotterdam had intervened. The appropriate- 
ness of the comparison was therefore quite apparent. The 
view of the ocean, the beach, hotels, and visitors in either 
case had. no special novelty, and so my stay was short. 

A DUTCH VENICE. 

Amsterdam I reached before tea, and rode at once to the 
Amstel House, one of the most spacious and elegant hotels 
on the Continent. I chose a comfortable, airy room in the 
upper story, commanding a delightful prospect of the city, 
which is built on 95 islands, joined by 290 bridges, of the 
river Amstel and the Zuyder Zee. A full moon added to 
the beauty of the outlook at night, while countless gas 
lights flashed up and down the avenues and along the 
quays built by its crescent bay. I enjoyed refreshing 
slumbers in these princely quarters, and was not disturbed 
by noisy gong or intrusive servant, or by the street-watch- 
man, who 

" Breaks your rest to tell you what's o'clock," 

and rattles a huge clapper of wood, perhaps to warn away 
the rogues. For my room, with attendance and use of the 
library, and other luxuries, the charge was but seventy-fi^ e 
cents. 

Amsterdam is called the Dutch Venice. It is built on 
piles driven into bog and loose sand ; for the Town House 
foundations 13,000 were used. Erasmus was right in say- 
ing that the town was built on tree-tops. Some of the 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 95 

buildings seem to be in a thoroughly inebriated condition, 
and rftore than one has sunk into the muddy depths. Solid- 
ity and strength, however, characterize the old structures 
along the Kalverstrasse. The ponderous frame, the heavy 
staircase, the carved door and paneled room are made to 
last for centuries. The gate of St. Anthony was built 400 
years ago, and marks the spot where the ancient scajffold 
stood. 

This city is more grotesque, cheerful and lively than 
Venice. The throb of a busy population of 300,000, its 
commercial and manufacturing life, its excellent educa- 
tional institutions, its schools of art, and its conspicuous 
charities, give a vitality and charm to Amsterdam that the 
silent city on the Adriatic does not possess. The learned 
Jew Spinoza was born here. He was at first regarded an 
atheist, and was banished by the magistrates, at the request 
of his countrymen. There are now about 20,000 resident 
Jews, and a visit to their quarter is entertaining. The 
galleries of paintings, the zoological gardens, the tombs of 
De Ruyter and Rembrandt, the Palace, with its icy splen- 
dor and grim trophies of martial glory, the museums and 
Industrial Palace furnish enough materials of interest to 
hold the stranger for weeks. But here, as everywhere else, 
out-door life was most attractive to me. 

STREETS OP AMSTERDAM. 

On my first ramble about the citj^, I chanced to meet a 
gentleman who spoke English and German as well as Dutch, 
and he brought me to the money-changer's office. Having 
' secured the small coin of the country, I took my chocolate 
at an Italian cafe, and then, note-book in hand, began my 
enjoyable solitary meanderings. 

At one place I sat down on a stone step by one of the 
canals to rest, to write, and to watch the teeming, swarm- 
ing, ever-moving, and cheerful crowds. The daj^'s work 
was done, and the laborer and artisan were homeward 
bound. The barges dropped silently down the pea-greeu 



96 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

stream towards the outer dykes, pushed or pulled by 
swarthy, kindly-looking boatmen ; clean and ruddy dames 
with spotless caps sat in the doorway at this sunset hour ; 
a group of juvenile Dutchmen behind me made the air 
ring with their untranslatable ejaculations, as they played 
their game of ball in the angle of antique church walls, 
while in more quiet sport younger sisters were playing with 
household pets by the carved doorway of their gabled, 
narrow-windowed, red-brick dwellings. One of these femi- 
nine Hollanders, Avho held a tiny baby that was neatly 
clad and had a white knit cap on its head, came and shared 
the seat with me. Soon after, two or three more little 
ones, bright, clean, smiling, came nestling up, and sat like 
a family group around my grandf atherly knees. Nobody 
spoke a word, for, strange to say, nobody could command 
language adequate to the occasion. To complete the tab- 
leau, a pretty brown spaniel, who seemed to act as escort 
and guard of the children, approached and deliberately 
smelt of the Yankee, and gave his vise in a wag of the tail 
and a pleasant nod, as if to say to his youthful charge : 
*' That stranger is all right ; he won't hurt j^ou." Relying 
on the accuracy of his inspection, these little Amsterdamo- 
nians looked trustfully up to me, with their eyes all full of 
questions, though their lips were still. 

INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES. 

While I was taking a lunch, three well-to-do children, 
apparently sisters, came to the same small table. The eld- 
est, about 13, had a vial of perfumery, from which in turn 
she poured on each handkerchief. These Dutch flowers 
needed no fragrance, for they were such as Rubens or the 
genial Paul Potter might have selected to garnish his can- 
vas ; but they evidently enjoyed the saturation, and flung 
smiling glances at me in swift succession. As the youngest 
received her portion, she whispered something to her sister, 
who instantly, by look and gesture, gracefully requested 
the pleasure of extending international courtesies to one 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 97 

whom she, with quick instinct, must have known to be an 
American abroad. 

These are trifling but very pleasant episodes, fragrant 
memories of meetings and greetings, where the loquaci 
manu and still more eloquent eye are the only channels of 
thought and emotion. In the days of Augustus the panto- 
mime was brought to its greatest perfection. The tell-tale 
hand and face held audiences for hours. By " pictures in 
the air," among the early Indians, one could travel from 
Hudson's Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. There were only 
six, of the 150 signs used, which were not at once evident.* 
At Venice, when the gondolier took my franc, he showed 
that he wanted a half franc more by simply drawing his 
hand edgewise through the scrip, and then extending an 
empty hand, while he held what he had received in the 
other. 

In one of the narrow streets of Amsterdam I noticed 
that, in order to Avash the upper windows in a very high 
house, a fire-brigade ladder, jointed to the height of 50 
feet, had been wheeled up to the building. What a bless- 
ing it would be if the Dutch mania for cleanliness could be 
somehow communicated to the street commissioners of New 
York and other American cities ! 

Coffee, I noticed, was spelled Koffie ; the word for watch- 
maker, Horloguer ; and exchange, Beurs, like the French 
Bourse. Car tickets were sold at a discount by street spec- 
ulators, as in other lands ; and many other customs have 
been imported by the thousands from over the sea who are 
tramping through the highways and by-ways of Conti- 
nental travel. When railway officials come to understand 
English it will be better for all concerned. Very few do. 
One in Rotterdam- told me that he was living in Chicago at 
the time of the great fire. He was of great service to me 
in securing luggage, the receipt of which was lost. Be- 
tween Rotterdam and Antwerp a oai'eless conductor tore 

*Th wing's " Drill Book in Vocal Culture and Gesture." 



98 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

out two leaves of my coupons instead of one. The train 
was in rapid motion. He was climbing along the outside 
from carriage to carriage, stepping on the narrow plank 
over the wheels, and thrusting his head and arms through 
the window of each door, an awkward and dangerous way 
of collecting fares. It was nearly dark, and though I saw 
his blunder, it was useless to protest in English or French. 
In a wink away he went ! Of course another ticket must 
be bought. 

FUGITIVE GLANCES. 

From Amsterdam to Cologne is a distance of perhaps 
170 miles. The trip is made between noon and sunset. 
Rapid glances were given to town and village, as we rode 
away from a land which is rightly called terra incognita to 
most of foreign travelers, yet which is full of attractive- 
ness to a well-read visitor. There you notice an old hos- 
telry, with a vine-clad doorway, gabled roof, and nest of 
the petted stork on the ridge. This bird is supposed to 
bring luck, and no one dares to molest her. She cares for 
her young with great affection, and has been known to 
carry water in her beak to quench the fire that threatened 
her nest. At Delft, a mother-bird, finding it impossible to 
rescue her brood, sat down on the nest, spread her wings 
over her brood, and perished with them in the flames. The 
name of the stork in Hebrew signifies " mercy," apparently 
given on account of this uniform fidelity to its dam, even 
to death. In front of the inn, perhaps, you may notice a 
pole from which the archers shoot the popinjay. You see, 
too, odd farm gates, square haystacks, triangular trees, and 
clean cow-stalls, where even the tail is loosely tied to the 
ceiling to keep it clean ! A sack is put on her ladyship in 
cold weather, like those of tender greyhounds in other 
lands. 

Those horses make jom think of Wouverman's admirable 
pictures of this animal. The horses of the drayman, 
sportsman, carrier, or soldier which he painted are hardly 
equaled. That bed of tulips, of which you catch a sniff 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 99 

as the train hurries by, recalls the tulip trade which in 
1635 monopolized all the other industries of Holland. The 
rarest root sold for 5500 florins, and many persons were 
known to invest a fortune of 100,000 florins in the purchase 
of forty roots. Fortunes were lost in the gambling specu- 
lations known as tulip sales. Hyacinth bulbs are still sent 
all over Europe. When the wind is off-shore, " the bal- 
samic odor of the hyacinth " and other flowers has been 
detected. The anemone, it is recorded, was first carried 
hither to England, by a man who only succeeded in get- 
ting the seed from the stingy proprietor by brushing 
against the plant a shaggy great-coat, worn for the pur- 
pose. He thus secreted the precious deposit, and went his 
way rejoicing. That herring sign, made of a flower gar- 
land and colored paper, is an announcement of the arrival 
of this fish on the Dutch coast. The herring is a panacea 
for every complaint. 

Jan Steen two hundred years ago saved from oblivion 
many of these quaint pictures of domestic life. He was a 
Holbein and a Burns in one. Coming home from one of 
his midnight revels at Jan's tavern, the painter Mieris once 
fell into a dyke and was nearly drowned. A cobbler who 
rescued him, was surprised to see his velvet doublet and 
gold buttons. The grateful painter gave him a picture 
which he sold for 800 florins. That was probably the 
only gold fish that was ever found in those muddy canals. 

UTRECHT AND ARNHEIM. 

We stop a few minutes at Utrecht, to which Gen. Igno- 
rance before misled me. It is famous for the treaty (1*713), 
which secured in England a Protestant succession ; also 
for its university and velvets. Passing through Arnheim, 
I noticed the pleasant balconies at the rear of dwellings, 
aud cosy groups sitting under striped awnings on piazzas 
below, enjoying an afternoon siesta. In this old Roman 
town the English knight, scholar, and poet, Sir Philip Sid- 
ney, died, 1586, of a wound received at Zutphen. I tried 



100 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

to get some refreshment by the waj'' ; but station after 
station was passed, with no stop for food or for other 
bodily needs. 

At Elten the kind German conductor, to whom I had 
made plaintive cry, with emphatic gesture across the gas- 
tronomic territory, indicative of hunger, said : "Kom mit 
me." Taking hold of the lapel of my coat, he ' led me 
through the room of customs, into a restaurant, and intro- 
duced me to a smiling Teuton, who at once held out a bot- 
tle of Bordeaux wine. That was altogether too tonic 
for my temperance principles. Not recalling the Ger- 
man for teetotalism, Maine law, and cognate expres- 
sions, I simply made request for coffee, without attempt- 
ing, in my famished state, any argument as to intoxi- 
cants. 

At the banks of the Rhine, the railway carriages 
plunged into the water, and were submerged nearly up to 
the platforms, running into scows, in which, by iron chain, 
we were drawn over the muddy stream. Another jjlunge 
into the water, and the train was soon on the track on the 
western shore. 

Cologne, though not as disagreeable as Coleridge would 
have us believe, is more interesting for its historical asso- 
ciations than for any present attractions. It took its name 
from Colonia Agripj^ina, the mother of ISTero, having been 
born here, and still reflects something of Italian life. The 
Carnival is one feature, and the popish superstitions form 
another, of the life of the modern city. Hither, we are 
told, a fleet of British ships carrying 11,000 virgins was 
driven by tempest up the Rliine, whereupon the barbaric 
Huns at Cologne slew them all in one massacre. Their 
bones and those of the adoring Magi — their names traced 
in rubies on their skulls — make sonae of the many peep- 
shows to which curious ones are admitted for a proper con- 
sideration. After 632 years' delay, the great cathedral 
geeraed approaching completion, 



HOLLAND AJSD GEBMANT. 101 

COLOGXE CATHEDRAL. 

" Unfinished there in high mid-air 
The towers halt like a broken prayer ; 
Through years belated, unconsummated. 
The hope of its architect quite frustrated." 

So many pens have written of the solemn beautj^ of its 
lengthened aisles, its wondrbus choir and uplifting arches, 
of its shadowy chapel, its sculptured tombs and sacred 
relics, that nothing need be added. When I visited Co- 
logne in 1855, the train stopped outside the city, but now 
the tourist is landed near the completed cathedral. There 
are zoological gardens, museums, and picture galleries for 
those who care to tarry long enough to enrich the natives, 
including a score of " original " Eau de Cologne manufac- 
turers. Hood has written, "Take care of your pocket, 
take" care of your pocket, don't wash or be shaved ; go like 
hairy wild men, wear a cap and smock-frock." It is sug- 
gested that the banks of the Rhine are the magnificent 
hotels, as considerable money is deposited in them. The 
word Dampschiffe (steamboat) is suggestive of damp 
sheets, not unknown to travelers by water. Hood's attempts 
to get along with English were as unsatisfactory as some 
have been since his day. Wishing chicken broth made, 
his wife pointed to a poultry yard opposite, where the 
feathery facts were patent to all. " Ya, ya, sie bringen 
fedders ! " In forty-five minutes the servant returned 
triumphantly with two bundles of stationer's quills ! 
Rather dry eating. 

A correspondent of a New York journal wrote home, 
that he, being ignorant of every tongue but English, once 
got on a boat at Coblentz going down to Cologne, instead 
of up the Rhine to Maj^ence, as he supposed. He rushed 
to the edge of the deck, tossed his portmanteau ashore, and 
was about to leap, when he was held back by a sailor. He 
was put ashore in a boat at the first village, which was but 
a dozen mud huts ; was soaked in a drizzling rain ; laughed 



102 OXir-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

at by those who could not unclerstaiid his agonizing panto- 
mimes ; charged two thalers for the bench of a noisy, 
malodorous beer-shop on which he rested his bones during 
the night ; poured a steady stream of groschen into the 
hands of the keeper of the den to signalize and stop the 
next upward-bound steamer, and finally was returned to 
Coblentz, to find his luggage and to start again right. So 
much for Gen. Ignorance. None of my visits abroad fur- 
nished any such experiences, and everj^where, save in 
Holland, English and French did service' at least in meet- 
ing absolute needs. The days spent on the Rhine were 
made particularly pleasant by the companionship of Ameri- 
can friends, met on the steamer, on their way to Switzer- 
land. If one desires to hasten his movements, a trip down 
the river with the tide is preferable to the slow passage up 
against it. 

THE STORIED RHINE. 

Of the enticing beauty and lofty grandeur of the storied 
Rhine, poets and painters have given ample descriptions. 
Nature here is " negligently grand." Here is seen 

" The rolling stream, the precipice's gloom, 
The forest's growth and Gothic walls between, 
The wild rocks shaped as they had turrets been. 
In mockery of man's art ; and these withal 
A race of faces happy as the scene 
Whose fertile bounties here extend to all, 
Still springing o'er its banks, tlio' empires near them fall." 

The dark story of feudal times, when knights and barons 
and robber chiefs met in sanguinary strife ; the record of 
later battles that have reddened the Rhine and added new 
memories to its romantic past ; the traditions that linger 
about the old convents and castles ; fairy tales and songs 
of troubadour ; hymns of priest and nun ; legends of the 
mountain and the glen still told by humble peasants — all 
these give a charm to the region, which the scenery alone, 
grand though it is, never would possess without them. 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 103 

The day was balmy and Inight. The August heat felt 
on shore was cooled by the breeze we met or made. De- 
licious ice-creams, cherries, peaches, and other fruits, were 
served on deck. Steamers, barges, and rafts passed us, 
and at every turn of the river new changes of scenery were 
made in the panorama of valley and mountain, village and 
city. At Bonn yon think of Beethoven, who was born 
there, of Niebuhr, who died there, and of Lange, who lives 
there, with other celebrities of the University. At Konigs- 
winter, above the ripening corn and vine your eye rests on 
" the castled crag of Drachenfels." The seven mountains, 
Roland seek and Nonnenwerth, follow. While your 
thoughts linger on the bloody tale of Drachenblut, or 
the pleasanter story of the beautiful Hildegunde, Ober- 
winter, Ardenach, and Neuwid appear. Now you reach 
the blue Moselle, and Coblentz with its breez}^ promenades, 
its fragrant lime-trees, shady avenues, and massive bridge 
leading to the base of Ehrenbreitstein, the Gibraltar of the 
Rhine, on which an " iron shower for years " once fell in 
vain, a fortress which famine or gold alone can gain. At 
that old church of St. Castor the grandsons of Charle- 
magne met to divide the empire in 843. Prince Metternich 
and Henrietta Sontag were born here. Now the royal 
castle of Stolzenfels, the fortress of Marksburg, and two 
others called " Brothers," are seen. The guide-books will 
outline, at least, the story of Lady Geraldine. 

OUTDOOR TOILERS. 

Notice the luxuriant cherry orchards ; the abundant 
wheat fields ; the grassy banks on which the snowy cloths 
are laid to dry and whiten ; the mower and reaper ; the 
women binding the sheaves, and the vinedresser pruning 
his vines that they may bring forth more fruit ; the smiling 
chateaux, as well as lordly mansion built with foreign gold; 
the grotesque sun-dials on the houses ; the countless images 
of the Crucified and shrines of the Virgin b}^ the roadside. 
Here comes down a floating house on a rude raft, where 



104 Otf-DOOU LIFE IN EUROPE. 

people live month after month, as on Western waters. 
There rises one of the grandest ruins of feudal days, Rhine- 
f els, near by the fierce and foaming rapids where the fabled 
maiden sat on the rocks at the evening hour and lured the 
boatmen to destruction by her song. Shonburg frowns on 
the stronghold below, in midstream, where blackmail was 
levied by robber chiefs in olden time. It is eight o'clock. 
The mooii is up. The glory of the day is followed by the 
solemn beauty of the night. 

BINGEN OI^" THE EHINE. 

Here we leave the boat to catch a train that will bring 
us to Heidelberg before we sleep. At the railway station 
I soberly asked a young man, who seemed to be a resident, 
if he had ever heard of a soldier of the Legion who once 
" lay dying at Algiers," and who made frequent mention 
of " loved Bingen," " calm Bingen," " dear Bingen on the 
Rhine." Strange to say, he could not recall any circum- 
stances of the kind, at least among the young men of his 
acquaintance in the town, nor had he ever heard of Mrs. 
Norton or of her grandfather, the brilliant Sheridan. 
Foiled in this, I repressed my curiosity as to Archbishop 
Hatto, formerly a retired clergyman in that neighborhood, 
who once made a corner in grain and got cornered himself 
in a small tower which I had just passed, indeed was eaten 
up by mice, if Southey speaks the truth. A few minutes' 
ride by rail and Mayence is reached. The tomb of Mrs. 
Charlemagne ; the house marked " Hof zum Gensfleisch," 
where Gutenberg was born ; the battle-scarred cathedral 
and the crumbling tower erected by a Roman legion before 
the days of Christ — these and other sights we had to pass 
by. Across the winding Rhine, through " The Garden of 
Germany," we were whirled along at great speed till Darm- 
stadt lyas reached, which, it will be remembered, was the 
last home of the lamented Princess Alice. The golden 
light lingered in the west, and the rising moon flooded the 
earth with beauty. To complete the picture, far away 



HOLLAND AND GERMANY. 105 

over the forests of fir there rose a leaden cloud of fantastic 
shape, now and then, as it were, fringed with fire, as vivid 
lightning flashed behind and through its piled-up masses. 
Another hour brought us to the valley of the Neckar. 
*f The hour when churchyards yawn " found me safely 
housed in the luxurious Hotel de I'Europe, Heidelberg. 
The mercur}^ by day had marked 83'=', but the dewy cool- 
ness of the night made even a blanket comfortable. Our 
rest was undisturbed by student song or shout of reveler, 
for it was the time of midsummer vacation. 

HEIDELBERG. 

We rode by the university buildings the next day. They 
wore a deserted look. It would have been pleasant to have 
visited the library, which numbers near a quarter of a mil- 
lion volumes, the cabinets, laboratories and museums, but 
not a book did we see, not a grave professor or a single 
rollicking college man, with his jaunty, vizorless cap of red 
or green. Our driver took us in view of the gorge on the 
opposite banks where dueling parties have had their en- 
counters, half a dozen a day sometimes. The castle was 
soon reached. Turenne's cannon, the thunderbolt and 
" the tooth of time " have spoiled its beauty, yet as one 
studies the exquisite moldings and sculptures, the flutings 
and draperies and garlands, the fruits and flowers, faces of 
man and bird and beast, rosettes and arabesques carved out 
of stone with wondrous skill, he cannot but be charmed 
with what remains of this Alhambra of Germany. Yes, 

" The splendor falls on castle walls," 

and crumbling ruins *' old in story," not merely that of the 
sunlight, but the fascination of historic and poetic romance. 
We wandered about the gardens, crept through a subter- 
ranean passage, dark as Erebus — lighting matches as we 
went, and dodging the slimy drops that oozed from the 
moldering arches above and made muddy jjools beneath, 
marked well the bulwarks and the towers thereof, on some 



106 OUT-BOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

of which linden trees were growing ; feasted our eyes on 
the valley through which the Neckar rushes, and noted the 
slopes beyond, convent crowned ; the valley of the Rhine 
westward, the Alsatian hills and the oak-crested hills of 
Geissburg. Just by the edge of the Jettenbuhl we came 
upon an artist, who had secured from this commanding out- 
look a view of the wide panorama while yet the morning 
light and longer shadows gave a depth and richness to the 
picture which would be lost at noon. But we carried away 
from Heidelberg, in memory and imaginaition, more endur- 
ing impressions than the artist could make on paper or 
canvas, for " There can be no farewell to scenes like 
these." 

Just here we have a suggestion of the opulent pleasures 
of reminiscences, which follow travel, as those of anticipa- 
tion precede it, and those of realization attend it. Memory 
and imagination, as twin enchanters, reconstruct the 
scenery of the past, and bear us to and fro with the ease 
and speed of thought. In his blindness at fourscore, 
Niebuhr used to sit quietly in his chair, while a serene smile 
would light up his venerable face. When asked the source 
of his pleasure, he would refer to his Oriental travels, which 
he was again reproducing before his still unclouded mental 
vision — a sweet alleviation in hours of unwilling idleness. 

Carlseuhe, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Baden, 
is built in the form of a fan, its streets convei'ging to a 
common center, the Ducal Palace. Only brief and rapid 
glances were had of its cheerful avenues, parks and sub- 
urbs. I remember the luscious strawberries which were 
brought to us by peasant girls, a partial compensation on 
a hot August day for the lack of cold water, so constantly 
noticed by those traveling abroad who are accustomed to 
the comforts and conveniences of American railways. The 
guard seemed to suffer still more, sweating in his thick 
woolen uniform, and wearing a stiff, glazed cap, that looked 
unseasonable in midsummer. The women toiling in the 
harvest field, tawny and coarse looking, were the last of 



.S^ WITZERLAND. 1 1 

the objects we noticed as we were swiftly borne along to 
the borders of Switzerland. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SWITZERLANB. 
THE CITY OF BASLE. 

An unclouded sun poured down its torrid heat as we 
reached Basle. I found comfortable quarters at Hotel 
Schrieder, opposite the German station, on the Swabian 
side of the Rhine. Towards evening I took a stroll of four 
miles, crossing the river and exploring pretty thoroughly 
the streets of the older section, known as Gross Basle. 
German is spoken, and three-quarters of the people are 
Protestants. Its streets are well supplied with fountains, 
and kept with Dutch cleanliness. The religious character 
of the people used to be shown by their strict sumptuary 
laws, and by the mottoes over their doors. Sometimes 
business and religion got strangely mixed, as here : " Wacht 
auf ihr Menschen und that Buss, Ich lieiss zuni goldenen 
Rinderfuss " — " Wake and repent jowv sins with grief, I'm 
called the golden shin of Beef." On Sunday all must go to 
meeting dressed in black, and carriages were not permitted 
in town after 10 p.m. A footman behind a carriage was 
forbidden, as were slashed doublets and hose. The num- 
ber of dishes and the wines at dinner parties were controlled 
by the Unzichterherrn, or censors. In 1839 a visitor says, 
"Even now, should the traveler arrive at the gates of the 
town on Sunday during church time, he will find them 
closed, and his carriage will be detained outside until the 
service is over." The clocks used to be kept an hour 
ahead of the true time, as a conspiracy to deliver the city 
to an enemy at midnight, it is said, was once frustrated by 
the clock striking one instead of twelve. There used to be 
the Lallenkonig of the clock tower on the bridge, a huge 
head, with long protruding tongue and rolling ej^es. The 



108 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN KVllOFE. 

swing of tlie pendulum made these grotesque grimaces, 
which have been interpreted as offering contempt to Little 
Basle opposite, then owned by the Ducliy of Baden. 

In this line of grotesque ornamentation is the ''Dance of 
Death," attributed to Holbein, who was born at Basle, and 
died in the plague at London, 1554. It is said that he 
Avas, in his days of povert}?-, employed by an exacting man, 
who watched closely the scaffolding from below, to see if 
he kept close to his work. Young Holbein, being disposed 
now and then to steal away to a neighboring wine shop, 
l^ainted a pair of dangling legs so very like his own, that 
the man was entirely deceived, and gave him credit for a 
diligence he was not then disposed to show. The idea of 
dancing skeletons w^as not * original with Holbein, for 
ancient Greek and Roman art records it on sculptured sar- 
cophagi and household lamps. Petronius describes a 
similar personation introduced at a Roman banquet. 
Monkish chronicles of England, translated 1390, tell of 
church-yard dances. In allusion to the plague at Basle, 
during the continuance of the great council 1431-1443, the 
prelates ordered the painting of a " Dance of Death." 
This was before the birth of Holbein, and doubtless sug- 
gested to him the idea. Meglinger's work on Lucerne 
bridge, the ghastly decorations of Campo Santa at Pisa, 
and" many other lugubrious delineations of death and de- 
struction, are in keeping with the lurid view of the here- 
after then prevalent. 

SUNDAY SIGHTS. 

No traces either of saturnine feeling or of Puritanic 
strictness revealed themselves during two visits to Basle. 
Sunday seemed a festive day and given up to drinking 
and pleasuring by many, at least the latter part of the daj^ 
The outdoor orchestras and brass bands in the beer gardens 
struck up their music at 4 p.m. I noticed that whole 
families oftentimes would take a table in these gardens, 
and together, from the youngest up, indulge their bibulous 
propensities. I looked into one or two morning congre- 



SWITZERLAND. 109 

gabions in Romish churches on ray way to Protestant 
service. These werS" crowded as usual, and some German 
chorals were finely rendered. About a score of strangers 
met at Three Kings and listened to an English preacher 
who gave a familiar discourse on the Healing of the Leper, 
rehearsing something of his own observations of leprosy in 
the East. The hotel, Trois Rois, is named from a con- 
ference on this spot in 1024 of Conrad II., Henry III. of 
Germany, and Rodolph III., who there signed a contract 
for the protection of the town. Basle was founded by the 
Romans and called Basilia. The University, Minster, 
Council Hall, Museum and Arsenal are full of interest to 
the student of ancient annals. The monument com- 
memorating the battle of St. Jacob tells us that " Here 
died 1300 Swiss and Confederates fighting against Austria 
and France. Our souls to God, our bodies to the enemy ! " 

THIRD-CLASS SWISS CARRIAGES. 

It is 167 miles from Basle to Geneva. The third-class 
railway carriages had a central aisle and carried thirty 
persons on each side, couples facing each other. The cars 
had low-back seats and everything open between. The 
better ventilation, the absence of the hot cushions and 
padded sides of the close apartments, first and second- 
class, the better opportunity of seeing and the liberty of 
moving about, made the change agreeable, to say nothing 
of the lessened expense. A Swiss gentleman with his 
English wife were pleasant seatmates, and gave me not a 
little information about Switzerland. But the sudden 
appearance of Lake Geneva, or Lenian, was a most de- 
lightful surprise in every respect. 

LAKE LEMAN AKD GENEVA. 

" Clear placid Leman! thy contrasted lake 
With the wild world I dwelt in, is a thing 
Which warns me with its stillness to forsake 
Earth's troubled waters for a purer spring. 

Drawing near, 



110 OUT-DOOli LIFE IN EUROPE. 

There breathes a living fragrance from the shore 

Of flowers yet fresh with childhood. Here the Rhone 

Hath spread himself a couch, the Alps have reared a throne." 

This beautiful expanse of water lay bright as silver under 
the westering sun, except where the leaden hues of bare, 
rugged, wrinkled mountains shadowed it, while its borders 
were fringed with populous villages, vineyards and gardens. 
I saw the blue and arrowy Rhone rushing out from between 
heights that appear " as lovers who have parted." These 
snowy peaks rise to the height of nearly 10,000 feet. Be- 
yond the seven-headed Dent du Midi were the Tete Noir and 
the Alps of Savoy. Sixty miles southward may be seen 
Mont Blanc in regal splendor, although amid the confusing 
grandeur of the sudden prospect opened I could not certainly 
designate it at the moment. Voltaire was right in vaunting 
the beauties of the exquisite scene, " Mon Lac est le pre- 
mier ! " Surely no fairer spot need be sought for a summer 
resting-place or for a longer period. I rather enjoyed the 
legend of Bishop Protais, who was buried here in 530. It 
was proposed in 1400 to move his remains, but " he showed 
some repugnance and did not seem to be inclined to go any 
further." A sensible corpse ! With Shakespearean empha- 
sis it cried, " Blessed be the man that spares tl^se stones, 
and cursed be he that moves my bones." For the living or 
the dead the shore of this crystal sea is a good stopping- 
place. 

Alexandre Dumas wrote, " Geneva sleeps like an Eastern 
queen above the banks of the lake, her head reposing on 
the base of Mont Saleve, her feet kissed by each advancing 
wave." Voltaire said that when he shook his wig, its pow- 
der dusted all the republic, and a noble of Savoy said that 
he could swallow Geneva as easily as he could empty 
a spoon. But though circumscribed in territorial extent, 
its moral influence is as wide as the earth. The conflicts of 
Genevan ideas were sneeringly compared by Emperor 
Paul to "a tempest in a tumbler," but the results of 
the life of a single man like Calvin are of immeasurable im- 



. SWITZERLAND. Ill 

portance to the world. "No man lias lived,'' said Dr. 
Wisner, " to whom the world is undei- greater obligations 
for the liberty it now enjoys than to John Calvin." * 
Nor should D'Aubigne, Felix Neff, Neckar, Sismondi and 
others be forgotten. One of my first visits was to Calvin's 
former home, No. 116 Rue de Chanoines — canons — which 
was pointed out to me by a canon-ical looking man dressed 
in black, who, in broken English, made inquiries about 
America, and, in parting, extended his hand very deferen- 
tially and said kindly, " Good travel, good travel ! " The 
birthplace of Rousseau, 69 Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau, is 
marked by an inscription on its front. When sixteen years 
of age he was an apprentice to an engineer, but an unwill- 
ing toiler, for he longed for wider liberty. Returning one 
night from a ramble in the country, he arrived at the city 
gate just as the drawbridge rose, and was excluded for the 
night. Fearing to meet his austere employer he absconded, 
and became a wanderer in Savoy, then a student at Turin, 
where he exchanged Calvinism for Romanism. Thus, liter- 
ally on the swing of a gate " hinged " the career of this 
brilliant, godless man. The churches, university, museums 
and arsenal contain not a few relics of olden time. In the 
library founded by Bonnivard are homilies written on 
papyrus b}^ Augustine in the sixth century ; in the 
academic museum is a stuffed elephant which once be- 
longed to the town authorities, but proved to be so much 
of an elephant on their hands that it was shot by a cannon- 
ball and its meat sold to the restaurants to pay the expense 
of his taking off. More savory reminiscences are suggested 
by a fort3"-four pound trout and other preserved specimens 
of Swiss fish. But following out my purpose to see 
" places and people, not tliings^^ I prefer to be outdoors 
while at Geneva, as elsewhere. 

* As Lord Lytton has said, Calvin is "the loftiest of reformers, one 
whose influence has been the most wide and lasting. Wherever prop- 
erty is secure, wherever thought is free, you trace the inflexible^ 
inquisitive, unconquerable soul of Calvin." 



112 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

YIEWS A-FOOT. 

The numerous bridges over the Rhone and the swift, 
blue torrent rushing beneath them, a few hours ago a 
muddy stream, now of azure hue, clear and pure ; the 
washerwomen busy by the brink, rubbing, rinsing and 
wringing their clothes as they leaned over a wooden bar- 
rier, nearly on a level with the water ; the crowds about 
the cafes on the Isle of Rousseau and on other breezy 
promenades ; the steep, narrow, crooked streets of the 
older part of the town, with the shops and street markets, 
interested me exceedingly. 

Geneva is at the height of the season a vast caravansary, 
on the highway of travel between Germany and the Medi- 
terranean. One is sure here to meet his countryihen, from 
whatever lands he hails. The loveliness of its location, 
the healthf ulness of the town, its literary and religious life, 
with the political and historical interest attaching to it, 
combine to make Geneva a favorite center. Begging is 
forbidden and but few idlers are seen, compared with 
Roman Catliolic communities. There are wandering 
Savoyards here who, perhaps, by singing can earn a few 
centimes a day. Rarely have I heard a mellower voice 
than was heard late one night under my window. Its 
pensive sweetness and soulful emphasis can never be for- 
gotten. The lad may have been thirteen. He had no 
instrument, but he sung like a nightingale. " There was a 
sadness in the voice that was not in the song." This little 
fellow was evidently singing for his bread, and put into 
his ballad the same pleading earnestness which character- 
ized that English barrister who felt, he said, as if his 
children were pulling at his skirts, asking for food. In 
both cases a triumph was won. 

Walks about Geneva bring you to the grave of B'Au- 
bigne ; to the bank of the Arve ; to Cologny, the residence 
of John Milton and Lord Byron, where " Manfred " and the 
third canto of "Childe Harold " were written j to Robert 



S WITZERLAND. 1 1 3 

Peel's mansion, that of Rothschild and the former home 
of Empress Josephine, and to the Protestant burial-ground 
where Calvin, Sir Humphrey Davy and other eminent men 
have their resting-place. Not two leagues out of Geneva 
is Voltaire's chateau, where you can see the room in which 
he received the deputies of kings and emperors ; the study 
where he wrote ; the terrace and garden overlooking the 
lake and commanding a view of Mont Blanc, with other 
memorials of the philosopher. The chapel is removed on 
which he placed the ambiguous inscription, ^^ Deo erexit 
Voltaire.'''' 

SWISS FESTIVALS. 

One dark December night in 1602, the army of the Duke 
of Savoy came secretly to the gates of Geneva, 3000 strong. 
The scaling-ladders were already placed upon the walls, 
and 200 men had penetrated the fortifications, when a 
sentinel going his midnight rounds lantern in hand dis- 
covered them, fired, and roused the town, the enemy was 
driven away and left 200 dead behind. This ended for- 
ever the plots of the House of Savoy. The faithful sentinel 
fell in the attack, but his lantern is still kept, as is that of 
Guy Fawkes at Oxford. The Fete de I'Escalade is still 
observed. 

Still older is the Vine Festival, celebrated at long inter^ 
vals at Vevay by an ancient guild, centuries old. At the 
last pageant 1000 participated, and 40,000 spectators were 
accommodated on a platform in the market-place. Ceres, 
Bacchus, Silenus, Satyrs, Fauns and Nymphs ; white oxen 
and horses caparisoned with tiger-skins ; flower-girls and 
shepherds ; haymakers and milkmaids ; reapers and 
gleaners ; ploughmen and vinedressers, each and all bear- 
ing fruits of the earth and implements of agriculture ; 
woodcutters and chamois hunters, with bands of music and 
choirs of singers, made up the procossion. There was an 
invocation or anthem, Ranz des Vaches — the cow-herd's 
melody played on the alphorn to call the cattle home — 
then tableaux or cantatas, where the parties named went 



114 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

through a representation of their varied vocations, and at 
the close of each of the two days devoted to the festival 
there were illuminations, banquets and out-door dancing. 

OVER THE LAKE. 

From Geneva to Chillon is about 50 miles. Including 
frequent landings, the time by steamer is about four 
hours. I never had in travel more satisfaction crowded 
into an equal space of time. There were a hundred pas- 
sengers aboard, but none of them interrupted my reveries, 
unless in answer to a question. Memory was busy with the 
past, as my eye rested on one object after another around 
which poetry and history had thrown undying associations. 
The day w^as serene and the air balmy. The atmo- 
spheric and cloud effects in the picture that continually 
opened before us were full of varied beauty. Fields of 
snow were seen in the higher Alps ; a rich purple light 
clothed the lower ranges as with velvet ; and on the ter- 
raced slopes nearer the lake, vineyards and gardens 
bloomed, with picturesque villas and hamlets, towns and 
villages, churches and castles, embowered in grove or for- 
est. Here is what was the hunting-seat of the Burgun- 
dian kings, and there the former home of Madame de 
Stael, wath Roman tombstones and other relics of Julius 
Caesars battles with the Helvetians. Convent and hermit- 
age, farmhouse and Druidic retreat are scattered here and 
there, each wdth its history. Over yonder precipice, one 
bright August day like this, while enjoying with her towns- 
people a rural festival, a young bride slipped and fell. In 
trying to save her, her husband also was dashed to the 
depths below. To this day there is a crimson colored 
rock pointed out as bearing the stains of their blood. 
^ Midway in our trip over this crescent lake is Morges, an 
elegant town with its lofty donjon, IVO feet, built by the 
beloved Bertha, queen of the Burgundians, eleven centu- 
ries ago. Her age was called a golden one. She used to 
mount her palfrey and visit all her people, distaff in hand, 



SWITZERLAND. 115 

to encourage industry among them. Coins, monuments 
and seals represent her on her throne with this ancient em- 
blem in her hand. The proverbs of German and Italian 
introduce her name as significant of good old times, like 
those of Queen Bess of England. On the opposite shore is 
Thonon, once the residence of Madame Guyon. 

Lausanne is a tri -mountain city superbly placed on the 
lower slopes of Mount Jura, girdled by groves, pine and 
acacia, ample parks and fruitful vineyards, with the Alps 
of Savoy and the Yalais in view beyond the lake, rising in 
rosy light. Westward are the Jura, breathing, as Ruskin 
says, " the first utterances of those mighty mountain sym- 
phonies soon to be more bodily lifted and wildly broken 
along the battlements of the Alps. The far-reaching ridges 
of pastoral mountain succeed each other, like the long and 
sighing swell which moves over quiet waters from some 
far-off stormy sea." 

But the scenic charms of Lausanne are not all. Historic 
associations begin far back in the sixth century, when the 
relics of St. Anne brought hither pilgrims from afar and 
gave impulse to the growth of the place, hence its name 
Laus Annw. Silva Belini, or woods of Bel, saw the 
bloody sacrifices of Druids. In 1479 occurred that papal 
farce of trying and excommunicating in the name of the 
Trinity the army of May-beetles that were devouring every 
green thing in the neighborhood. On the road leading to 
Ouchy, the landing-place, is the hotel that marks the for- 
mer residence of Gibbon. The terrace remains where the 
historian, one June midnight in 1787, walked after he had 
concluded his Roman history. He says : " After laying 
down my pen, I took several turns in a covered walk of 
acacias, which commands a prospect of the countr}^, the 
lake, and the mountains. The air was temperate, the sky 
was serene, the silver orb of the moon was reflected from 
the waters, and all nature was silent. I will not dissemble 
the first emotions of 303^ on recovery of my freedom. But 
my pride was soon luimbled, and a sober melancholy Avas 



116 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

spread over my mind by the idea that I had taken an ever- 
lasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that 
whatsoever might be the future of my history, the life of 
the historian must be short and precarious." 

VEVAY AND CLAEENS. 

Yevay is a focal point, perhaps the best for a view of 
Lake Leman. It is also a resort in winter and called " a 
miniature Kice." On an eminence behind the town is the 
cathedral church. A Genevese author writes, " The as- 
pect of this scene, at once so majestic and so rich, seemed 
to me, as I quitted the church service, like a continuation of 
the Creator's praise." Here are buried the remains of the 
regicide Ludlow and those of Broughton,"who read to 
Charles I. his sentence of death. They died here in exile, 
a price having been set on their heads. I noticed the old 
baronial castle of Blonay and the donjon beyond, the spot 
associated Avith Rousseau's "Nouvelle Heloise"; and 

there 

" Clarens, sweet Clarens, birthplace of deep Love ! 

Lone, wonderful and deep. It hath a sound 
And sense and sight of sweetness." 

Guide-books usually praise and point out the felicitous 
appropriateness of poetic fancies. as applied to places, but 
the one I held in my hand, published by Ghisletti, of 
Geneva, remarks, " Clarens is a dust-box at the foot of a 
bare hill, and in warm weather inspires no sentiments save 
those of weariness and thirst." I remember counting 75 
trvU poplars that stood like gendarmes along the shore 
beyond, and the swans and white doves that appeared as 
our steamer came near Montreux. 

A FAMOUS PRISON. 

Two miles more completed our sail. We landed about 
a mile from the Castle of Chillon, and three of us took a 
row-boat and were pulled to the famous prison, which poet 
and artist have made familiar to every one. It is a silent, 



SWITZERLAND. 117 

impressive picture of feudal barbarism, and well worth in- 
spection. Its white walls and gothic turrets shone in the 
bright sunlight, as our curtained barge swung round the 
upper angle and we alighted under the drawbridge. We 
looked into the depths, " a thousand feet below " — only the 
actual depth is about 500 feet. 

We waited till a dozen tourists were gathered, and then 
a bright French woman took us in charge. She rattled off 
her lesson with great speed. I suggested to her that some 
of us preferred English, but that advice was wasted. 
Enough, however, was understood by me to make the 
exercise exhilarating, at least. Some who could better 
keep up with her volubility kindly interjected a sentence in 
English, as she paused to take breath ; others made their 
German translations at the same time. The Military 
Chapel, Hall of Justice, Reception Room, chambers of the 
Duke and Duchess and the Chapel of the Dake of Savoy, 
with its carved stalls, were shown, and the Oubliette, where 
four steps down through the darkness plunged the con- 
demned into the depths of the lake, where they could 
" forget " their sorrow and torture forever. The dungeon 
below the lake, where Bonxivard was chained seven years 
to a pillar ; the beam, blackened by time, from which the 
captive was hung by wrist or neck ; the instruments of 
torture and the shelving rock on which the doomed passed 
their last night, were shown, in turn. They awakened no 
very pleasant feelings towards tyrants in general, and 
towards the House of Savoy in particular. It was a relief 
when we reached the court-yard again, and the brisk young 
cicerone said " Cest fini.^^ Yes, those days and deeds of 
darkness are also " finished." The iron age when might 
makes right is over, and Switzerland is free ! 

"Free as the chamois on their mountain side! 
Firm as the rocks which hem the valley in. 
They keep the faith for which their fathers fought. 
They fear their God, nor fear they aught beside! " 

Thousands visit this ancient castle every year, to pa^ thei^* 



118 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

tribute to the memory of the Prior of St. Victor. I no- 
ticed Byron's name cut on the stone piUar about which 
tliis noble captive trod "and wore a patli " as if the cold 
pavement were a sod." In 1348 there were 1200 Jews 
burned here, charged with a conspiracy to poison the public 
fountains of Europe.* A short walk takes you to Ville- 
neuve, built on the ruins of a Roman town, where sarcophagi, 
containing well-preserved remains, have been found, and 
also medals and inscriptions of the second century. The 
archaeologist as well as the artist finds much to engage his 
attention about the lake. So also the oreolog-ist and natural- 
ist. There are twenty-one species of fish in these waters 
and fifty different kinds of birds along the shores. A sixty- 
pound trout was once sent as a present to the Dutch 
Government. 

The study of the trees is another engaging diversion, 
where one tarries a few weeks. The pine, larch and fir are 
found in high altitudes, the lime, yew, ash, elm, chestnut, 
alder and holly on lower slopes. The fig and olive are 
found not far from Chillon, here and there the pear and 
pomegranate, the plum and peach. The peasant of the 
Rhone and Savoy, says Yost, " exults in the beauty of his 
country and thinks that the world can not produce such an 
assemblage of enchanting scenes." Of this neighborhood 
and the Bernese Oberland this enthusiastic traveler gives 
glowing descriptions, quite Virgilian in flavor, so that one 
sees the mountains and the valleys ; the sunny nook 
enameled with bluebell and cowslip, woodbine and jas- 
mine ; the glittering glacier and the purple vinej^-ard, and 

* A pious prayer, Inscribed in 1643 above the entrance to Ciiillon, 
reads " Gott der Herr segne den Ein und Ausgang" — "May God 
bless all who come in and go out." The whiteness of the walls has 
continued remarkably these 642 years. This is mainly owing to the 
purity of the air here, as in Greece and Italy, which does not blacken 
ruins as in England. " The Prisoner of Chillon," an imaginary tale, 
was written by Byron in June, 1816, while detained two days by 
Stormy weather at a ^mall taveru at Quchy, 



SWITZERLAND. 119 

hears the dash of cascades, the murmur of the brook, the 
lowing of the cows and the tinkling of their bells, the 
stroke of the fisherman's oar and the vesper bell tolling at 
the close of the day. 

SWISS COSTUMES. 

Yost's pencil as well as his pen pictures the hardy 
mountaineer with belt and alpenstock, the shepherd with 
his huge horn, the hay-maker and farmer with scythe and 
pail and the milkmaid with plaited petticoat and apron of 
blue linen, her hair — not falling straight down over her 
eyes, as is the idiotic style in some countries — but drawn 
back from her shining brow, tied in light tresses and 
crowned with a tasteful little velvet cap. Some peasant 
girls wear a scarlet bodice bordered with black, a jaunty 
waistcoat without sleeves, a short striped dress, and 
flowers in their hair and hats. The out-door life and 
healthful exercise of the people promote longevity. Yost 
tells of a Swiss village on the Visp where there were 
several centenarians living at the same time, one of whom 
begun his second century with a third marriage, and in 
due time had a son who was himself married twenty years 
after. 

BERNESE OBERLAND. 

For thirty-three francs I bought tickets at Geneva of 
Cook, which took me to Bern, Thun, Interlachen, Lake 
of Brienz, over the Brunig Pass to Sarnen and Alpnach, 
thence over the lake to the city of Lucerne, about 160 
miles. The time occupied was from Friday noon to 
Saturday night. 

Freiburg, with its bold, picturesque scenery, its suspen- 
sion bridge, overhanging a deep, broad ravine ; the cathe- 
dral, with its lofty tower, and the romantic environs, are 
remembered with distinctness. 

Bern is a queer, grotesque bearish place, and amused me 
much. I wandered about the streets and into the shops, 
out to the terrace, over the cathedral, and up to the top 
of the roof, enjoying the afternoon ramble exceedingly, 



120 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE, 

buying here and there souvenirs. Bears are as plent}'" 
here as watches are in Geneva. Music-boxes I found 
stowed away everywhere. I sat down in a chair, and a 
cheerful melody bade me welcome. Lifting a bottle, 
another lively strain started from a concealed instrument, 
and seizing a cane, that, too, began a waltz. It seemed as 
if the spirit of fun took possession of almost everything. 
Even in the carvings of the cathedral stalls the most ridic- 
ulous figures were noticed. Bruin was represented as 
beating a drum ; a man was eating a lunch ; a carver was 
at his bench, and a woman at her washtub. Had these 
figures been cut out of a pine bench in a Yankee school- 
house one would not wonder, but to have them put before 
the eye in a place of worship is one of the unexplained 
oddities of Bern. Over the central door of the cathedral 
are innumerable figures carved to represent the infernal 
regions, not ^n appetizing thing to meet the eye entering 
church, and hardly in keeping with the Scripture, " Thou 
shall call thy walls salvatio?i and thy gates praise." A 
statue of Moses, with horns, stood outside. 

ALPINE GLOEIES. 

The panorama of the Alps spread out before me as I 
walked by the sycamore shade on the high promenade 
overlooking the Aare was the most satisfactory thing to 
carry away from Bern. The afternoon shadows were 
lengthening, and the glow of those countless snowy peaks, 
from 6000 to 13,000 feet high in the blue heavens, is some- 
thing not easily described. As we rode that evening 
towards Thun we had the sight of a gorgeous sunset, 
followed by a Nachgliihen, or after-glow, which was one of 
remarkable beauty, as H., an American resident, familiar 
with Switzerland, informed me. 

Thun was founded in 1320 by two counts. One mur- 
dered the other, and the blood-stains, like those of Rizzio 
of Holyrood, have long been preserved in town for the 
delectation of tourists and enrichment of showmen. Yost, 



SWITZERLAND. 121 

who spent seven years near here, describes the scenery wit ii 
rather more fullness and ardor than Livy, or Csesar in his 
Commentaries, and compares the Lake of Thun in size to 
Windermere, while in beauty, he says, it is incomparable, 
"A most splendid view of mountains, groves, orchards, 
villages, churches, castles and villas ; fruit trees with a 
thousand ambrosial sweets ; yellow sheaves of corn bend- 
ing to the sparkling boughs, blended with orange, pink and 
purple, the meadows enlivened with sheep." All these 
were shut out, not only by night, but by a sudden thunder- 
storm. As we crossed the lake we had the novelty and 
excitement of the tempest and the blinding lightning. I 
would not go below, but, shielded by my rubber coat, kept 
on deck, gazing into the inky sky and on the peaks which 
for an instant shone out as flash succeeded flash, leaving 
us in darkness that could be almost felt. The pilot knew 
the way. The ten miles were soon passed. Landing at 
Darligen we were soon brought to 

INTERLAKElSr. 

"We found shelter in Hotel Unterseen. This town, " be- 
tween the Lakes," is a bright, busy place, through which 
some 30,000 tourists pass ever}^ summer. It is surrounded 
by the gleaming Alps, the black Faulhorn, the scraggj' 
Stockhorn, the pyramidal Niesen and Jungfrau, " Queen 
of the Bernese Oberland " ; threaded by the Aare and 
beautified by shady avenues, imposing hotels, and an ele- 
gant park. Swiss shops, quaint old mills, inns and board- 
ing houses attract the eye ; the Kursaal with its music, 
balls and banquets ; excursions to the pine woods, old 
castles or churches, also serve to occupy the leisure of 
those who tarry here ; Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald are 
easily reached. 

Byron laid the scene of " Manfred " at the castle Un- 
spunnen. He compares the Staubbach to the tail of a 
white horse streaming in the wind, nine hundred feet long. 

Mrs. Stowe says "the waterfall is very sublime, all but 



122 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

the water and the fall ! " Coming in the dry season the 
visitor is apt to be disappointed. I did not risk it, but 
pushed on to see tlie Giessbach, still higher, 1148 feet, and 
broken by seven cascades. These were fuller after the 
copious rain of the previous night, and poured down into 
the Lake of Brienz through dense, dark masses of fir-trees, 
leaping from ridge to ridge and spanned by rustic bridges. 
Rainbow hues by day and the glow of Bengal lights at 
night are added attractions. Only an hour is required to 
cross the little lake. There is much to engage the thought 
besides the scenery as one floats serenely over Swiss 
waters. 

ANCIENT LAKE DWELLERS. 

Recent researches have brought to light a vast amount 
of entertaining as well as suggestive knowledge of the 
ancient lake dwellers of Western Switzerland. In place of 
the palatial hotels that now open their doors to the 
strangers, there were huts of clay filled into wooden walls, 
and roofed with rushes. These houses were built on piles 
of oak and fir, the lower ends of w^hich were j)ointed by 
some edged instrument. Under beds of peat, of three 
distinct layers, have been found the implements and uten- 
sils of the stone age ; also relics that indicate the food 
eaten — cereals, venison and fish ; the clothing worn, and 
many other things. This was before the age of iron or of 
bronze, and some scholars believe these are vestiges of a 
civilization 6000 years old. Merges on Lake Leman, Marin 
on Lake Neuchatel, Nidan on Lake Bienne and Meilen at 
Zurich are notable illustrations of this prehistoric life. 
Herodotus wrote, b.c. 400, of lake dwellers in another 
land, "who dwelt on platforms made on tall piles, which 
stand in the middle of the lake, approached from the land 
by a narrow bridge. Each has his hut. They feed their 
horses and other beasts on fish." Why this isolation was 
sought is not clear. Perhaps because of the exemption it 
eecured from wild beasts or reptiles, possibly because of 



SWITZERLAND. 123 

the peril of flood and avalanche, to Avliich the dwellers in 
the close and narrow valleys are exposed. 

That these clay and thatched habitations were burned 
wlien the tribe or clan migrated, is proved alike from 
old Helvetian history, as when Caesar compelled the people 
to return and build their villages, and from the appearance 
of the charred piles discovered. At Marin fifty iron sword- 
blades were found, highly ornamented, and scabbards of 
bronze, wholly unlike the Roman or Celtic swords. Oswald 
Hare thinks that they may date as far back as one or two . 
thousand years before Christ. 

You notice the marl accumulated along the banks of this 
lake. In 1834, thirty acres were devastated by a land- 
slide. Two villages were nearly destroyed in 1797, and 
Kienholz was swept away by a similar catastrophe in 1499. 
I had a chance to see something of the valley further on in 
which Goldau was swallowed up. It was called the Para- 
dise of Switzerland. It was nine miles long, and abounded 
in exquisite beauty and fertility. 

DESTRUCTION OF GOLDAU. 

On the morning of September 2, 1806, the shepherds 
were startled by a convulsion on the summit of Rosenberg. 
They saw at noon smoke and blue flames. At 5 p.m. all 
was quiet. Before 6 p.m. not a house or tree remained in 
sight in the valley below. A solitaii^y cottage stood on the 
top of Rosenberg, occupied by a^ woodcutter and his fam- 
ily. Early in the day they were terrified by the internal 
agitations of the mountain. The father went for the min- 
ister to exorcise what was regarded a demon. Before his 
return the stones began to move, and the wife, with a new- 
born babe in arms, rushed out just in time to save herself 
as the ground parted. Their home was swallowed 
up in the torrent of stones which was precipitated into the 
valley, burying churches, convents and houses, and driving 
the waters of Lake Lowertz 2200 feet from its borders. 
A partj^ of tourists were near the bridge of Goldau. One 



124 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

lady affirmed tliat the forest was moving towards tliera, 
and was laughed at as deluded. Had they stopped they 
would all have been saved. The ladies advanced for a few 
minutes longer, when the avalanche fell and swept them 
away. Their companions, a little way in the rear, escaped. 
There were 457 who perished. 

Ebel, whose account is given in " Manuel du Voyageur 
en Suisse," says that the two months previous had been 
extraordinarily rainy, and that for two days the water 
-came down in torrents. Four villages were buried more 
than a hundred feet deep by this slide, which in five min- 
utes changed a Paradise into a frightful desert. John 
Neal, of Portland, Me., wrote a thrilling jDoem on this 
tragedy, entitled " Lament of a Swiss Minstrel over the 
ruins of Goldau." 

" Slowly it came in its mountain wrath, 
And the forests vanished before its j^ath ! 
And the rude cliffs bowed, and the waters fled, 
And the living were buried, while over their head 
They heard the full march of their foe as he sped ; 
And the valley of life was the tomb of the dead ! " 

OVER THE BRiilSriG PASS TO LUCERNE. 

Like Noah's Ark, a Swiss diligence is " full of living 
creatures," with a dozen or more on toj) usually. These 
chance companions were agreeable, and four hours were 
spent in a mountain ri^rffc^^er a smooth, solid road, amid de- 
lightful scenery. The sfaBftiit of the pass is only 3648 feet 
high, and so the view of Meiringen, its bright, verdant 
surroundings, the Peichenbach Falls, and the glories of the 
Grimsel are better enjoyed than at a higher altitude. The 
Grimsel is the boundary between the Papal and Protestant 
cantons, and the people of the former are not blind to the 
contrast. Sismondi once said, as he interlaced his fingers, 
*'We have cantons whose frontiers interlock with each 
other as do my fingers, and you need not to be told 
whether you are in a Protestant or a Catholic canton j a 
glance suffices to show you." 



S WITZELILAND. 1 2 5 

Rochette, a zealous Romanist, is quoted by ©r. Samuel 
Manning, in his " Swiss Pictures," as saying : " The 
Catholics have generally continued to be shepherds, while 
the Protestants have turned their attention to trade or 
manufactures. The poverty of the former contrasts with 
the affluence of the latter, so that, at first siglit, it would 
seem to be better to live in this world with Protestants 
than Catholics ; but there is another world in which this 
inferiority is probably compensated." A comforting- 
hypothesis. 

The air was refreshingly cool as we descended into the 
Forest Cantons, and sweet with the perfume of new-mown 
hay. Peasant-girls brought us milk, raspberries, black- 
berries, and cherries. The half -francs they get for their 
baskets of berries during the short summer-time bring 
many a comfort to their humble homes, for the winters are 
long. From October to May the flocks and cattle share 
their rude shelter. When the snows have melted, and the 
swallow, cuckoo, and primrose — prophets of the sj)ring — 
appear, and the grass shoots up again in the pasture-lands, 
the villagers gather in holiday dress, gay with flowers and 
ribbons. They receive a pastor's benediction. A band of 
music often precedes them. Says an eye-witness : " The 
cattle, who seem perfectly to understand what is going 
forward, appear almost frantic with joy at being released 
from their long imprisonment, and tlie procession moves 
upward to the higli pasture-ground on the mountain-side, 
often a distance of several miles from the village. On 
reaching the ground the cattle, each bearing a bell, range 
at will over the flowery and fragrant turf. The herdsmen 
take up their abode for the summer in the mountain 
chalets, wliile their wives and families generally remain 
below. The cattle are driven in twice or thrice a day to be 
milked. The processes of milking and cheese-making con- 
tinue, almost without interruption, all the summer." The 
bell is i-egarded by the cow as a badge of adoption and 
approval, its removal as a punishment. Without it the 



126 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

cow is sulky and gloomy. On one occasion, described by 
Latrobe, a fine animal bad not received her bell when the 
procession moved. She walked a little wa}^, and lay down 
as if in a fainting fit. Several opinions were broached, and 
remedies suggested. As old herdsman settled the matter 
by going back and getting her bell and collar, " which the 
animal no sooner felt about her neck than she got up, shook 
herself, crooked her tail over her haunches in token of 
complete satisfaction, went off prancing, kicking, and cur- 
veting with every appearance of gayety." 

A ludicrous figure is sometimes seen, a Homo caudatus. 
The cowherd seems to have a stout, stiff tail projecting a 
foot or less from his underpinning. This, however, is 
merely a one-legged stool strapped around his broadest 
part, so that he has one hand free to steady himself amid 
the ups and downs of his zigzag way, while the other holds 
the bucket of milk. The land is measured by the number 
of cows pastured. Thirty-five would yield about 146 
crowns ($110), according to Latrobe. 

The valley of Nidwalden, backed by Pilatus, and the 
Lungern See- for a foreground, is called " one of the most 
delicious scenes in Switzerland." We stopped in several 
villages to exchange the mails, and saw busy and cheerful 
communities. The hermitage of Nicholas, opposite Sarnen, 
is visited by many relic hunters, who have carried off 
fragments of the stone which the saint used as his pillow. 
Tradition says that he took no food for twenty years 
except the monthly Eucharist. He was an ardent patriot 
and a wise counselor. At Alpnach we see a modern 
church, Avith a slender spire built with timber brought from 
the forest of Pilatus, till latterly inaccessible. A scene in 
this church is described by Charles J. Latrobe, in his 
" Alpenstock," as follows : " It had been a high day for the 
Virgin. Her effigy, in the form of a doll, had been 
brought forth, placed upon a movable stand, and evidentlj' 
carried about in procession. It appeared that her day was 
at an end, for the sacristan advanced unceremoniously up 



SWITZERLAND. 127 

to the figure, unstrapped her from her pedestal, and inserted 
his hand between her shoes — one of which I had seen a 
woman kiss a few moments before — unscrewed a peg which 
kept her upright, let her fall on his shoulder, and carried 
her out of the church into the vestry ; so that the figure 
which was one moment deified and prayed and hymned to, 
and not approached without reverence, even by the con- 
secrated priest, was the next taken on the back of the 
unsanctified valet, and shut up in a dark box." This is a 
good commentary on Isaiah xlvi. : 7, "They bear him 
upon the shoulders, they carry him and set him in his 
place," etc. 

A spout for timber eight miles long was here made out 
of 30,000 trees. From a height of 2500 feet down to the 
water's edge the rudely-dressed logs shot down through 
the trough in six minutes. Professor Playfair says that 
they shot by like lightning, with a roar like thunder. This 
slide was used 1811-1819, and since 1733 a cart road has 
been used. Napoleon's shipyards were supplied from this 
mountain. 

The castle of Rotzberg is remarkable as being the first 
capture of Austrian strongholds which the Swiss confeder- 
ates made. It was New Year's Day, 1308. There was a 
fair maiden named Anneli in the castle. Her accepted 
lover, Jageli, was admitted to a midnight interview, and 
managed to have a score of his Swiss countrymen use the 
same ladder. They surprised the garrison, and this capture 
was followed by a successful overthrow of the Austrian 
power in other parts of Switzerland. The names of these 
two lovers, it is said, have ever since been celebrated in 
patriotic song. 

LUCERNE. 

As we embarked at Stansstad, and crossed to Lucerne, 
the daylight waned, and the moon rose over the lake. The 
barren slopes of Pilatus wore a deeper hue, and distant Righi, 
with its wooded belt, grew dimmer in the eastern sky. The 
lights of the city and along the quays wei'e reflected in the 



128 OUT-BOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

water as we came near ; the sound of music and the roll of 
carriages through the busy streets reminded us that our 
day of rural quiet was over. We were in the pleasant city 
of Lucerne (Lighthouse). Its picturesque walls, watch- 
towers, and bridges at once attract the visitor's attention. 
Its Arsenal has battle-flags and other trophies, the Town 
Hall fine carved work, and the churches a few monuments 
and paintings of merit. The " Dance of Death," already 
referred to, decorates the Sprener Briicke. Other pictures 
on the bridges represent national events. The broad eaves 
make a shady lounging-place, and the swift, blue waters of 
the Reuss, clear as crystal and cold as ice, give a refresh- 
ment to the eye on a warm summer afternoon. 

I also sat with satisfaction before Thorwaldsen's "Lion 
of Lucerne," which commemorates the valor of the Swiss 
Guard, 786 of whom fell, August 10, 1792, in defending the 
royal family of Louis XYI. of France from a revolutionary 
mob. The posture of the colossal body lying across the 
shield, marked with t\iefleur de Us ; the broken spear ; the 
prone, outstretched paw, and the wonderful expression of 
almost human feeling put into the face are most pathetically 
significant. Mr. Ball speaks of it as " perhaps the most 
appropriate and touching monument in existence." It 
would be impressive even in a cathedral, but it is more so 
outdoors in a sequestered nook, cut from the solid rock, 
with trickling rills dripping from its mossy edges, and 
forming a dark, crystal pool, in which the lion is reflected ; 
with seats arranged before it, indicative of leisurely, silent, 
and careful inspection. The figure is 28 feet by 18, and 
was executed by Ahorn, a sculptor of Constance, after the 
design of the great Danish artist. Sitting under the shade 
of maple and pine, jou. read the inscription to those " Qui 
ne sacrementi fidem fallerent" — but gave their blood to 
defend the Bourbon lily from the Revolutionists. For 
years a survivor of that heroic band used to stand here in 
liis patched red, rusty uniform, a guard of the grotto and a 
guide to the visitor. 



SWITZERLAND. 129 

SUNDAY SCENES. 

The Sabbath spent in Lucerne remains one of the pleas- 
antest in memory of any ever spent abroad. The weather 
was perfect, the natural surroundings uplifting and inspir- 
ing ; the social greetings of friends from over the sea, 
unexpectedly met at church, and the religious privileges, 
with qniet retirement between services, contributed to 
make the day one of restful peace, doubly enjoyed after 
rapid and exacting travel. The novelty of the English 
service consisted in this, that it was held in a Romish church, 
and followed in immediate connection with Romish wor- 
ship. The air was thick with incense as the Protestants 
entered and took the seats just vacated by the Paj^ists 
The sacristan veiled the high altar with a crimson curtain ; 
a monk, with woollen cowl and scapular, and with knotted 
rope about his waist, bowed to the Virgin's figure, turned 
on his heel, and left by one aisle ; the modest Scotch pas- 
tor. Rev. James Stuart, of Edinburgh, walked up the other ; 
the same servitor that had kindly hidden the images and 
candles from our eyes now distributed hymn-books. Later 
in the service he took the offerings for Protestant wor- 
ship. The great organ was silent. Without instrument 
or choir to lead us, tuneful voices lifted Dundee, St. Mar- 
tin's, and other melodies familiar to English ears all over 
the globe. The canton owns the edifice, and toleration is 
granted to those whose services present antipodal con- 
trasts. A son of Dr. Deems, of New York, preached in 
the evening. Looking at the preachers, who exalted the 
grace of God as the sinner's only hope, I saw, through the 
lingering smoke of " another altar,,' the glittering capitals 
conspicuous behind them, "Hilf, Maria, Hilf ! " — " Help 
Mary, help ! " May God hasten the day when the invoca- 
tion of Mary shall give place to the worship of Mary's 
God, and all the temples raised to her homage shall be 
transformed into the sanctuaries of intelligent, spiritual 
worshipers. 



OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

LAKE OF THE FOUR CANTONS. 

Pilatus had not doffed his night-cap ; the fashionable 
world of the gay summer rendezvous, Lucerne, had not 
waked ; a soft, dreamful light bathed the beautiful bay 
before our windows, as the sharp call of the steamer's bell 
bade us hasten aboard. We pushed out from the amphi- 
theater of hills before the sun appeared in the cloudless 
heavens. With each paddle -stroke the panorama opened 
new beauties of sky and water, of mountain and valley. 
Engaging as are the charms of Geneva's lake, there are many 
who prefer Lucerne's still bolder scenery. The four forest 
cantons are Lucerne, Uri, Schwytz and Unterwalden. 
They enclose the lake in the shape of St. Andrew's Cross. 
It is about 25 miles to Fluelen, though at least 90 around 
the shore of the lake. As these primitive cantons were the 
cradle of the Helvetic Confederacy, this lake has long been 
regarded a sanctuary of liberty, which trained, as Rogers 

says, 

' ' A band of small republics there 
Which still exists, the envy of the world ! 
Each cliff and headland and green promontory 
Graven with the records of the past. . . . 
That sacred lake withdrawn among the hills, 
Its depths of waters flank'd as with a wall, 
Built by the giant-race before the flood, 
Where not a cross or chapel but inspires 
Holy delight, lifting our thoughts to" God 
From Godlike men." 

Not withstanding "historic doubts" expressed about 
William Tell, as about William Shakespeare, Napoleon, 
Homer, Arnold von Winkelried, Mrs. Partington, a^jd 
other celebrities, we — that is, tourists — agree to drop doubt- 
ful disputations and believe everything of legendary lore 
connected with this and other classic places. We shall 
thus avoid a deal of unpleasant controversy and irrelevant 
conversation, such as Mr. Mark Twain and other "Inno- 
cents Abroad " had with the Genoese guide in reference to 
*' Christopher Colombo on a bust." 



SWirZERLAJSD. 131 

The first object that riveted my eye as we were well out 
on the lake was the naked peak of Pilatus, which draws to 
it the clouds from north and west, and labors under a bad 
reputation. There hovers the unquiet spirit of the Roman 
Procurator, who was banished to Gaul by Tiberias, and like 
other wandering Jews found no rest. From this summit 
come down almost all the wrathful storms that vex the 
peaceful waters. The government of Lucerne forbade, 
till recent times, the ascent of the mountain, because it was 
believed that intrusion into the dark domain of the suicide, 
or even the dropping of a stone into the pool on the top, 
where the sunken body lay, would rouse a tempest in the 
cantons. Even Conrad Gessner, the naturalist, had to get 
a special permit from the city fathers in order to visit the 
place. 

The summit is 7116 feet high. It caught the sunlight 
rays before we on the lake had seen the sun. Then we 
watched peak after peak grow bright and the shadows on 
the waters soften ; smoke from the wooded shores where 
villages nestle and rural sounds are heard, like tinkling goat 
bells or goatherd's horn ; looked at the stir and bustle 
which our landings made at Hertenstien and Weggis, and as 
Vitznau's tapering tower appeared, we changed our plan 
of going through to Fluelen, and determined to make the 

ASCENT OF THE EIGHI 

at once, while yet the glory of early day could be enjoyed. 
We landed. Forty of us seated ourselves, at 6 a.m., in 
the sloping car which is pushed up, after the Yankee plan, 
long ago introduced in the ascent of Mt. Washington. 
The height of Righi Kulm (summit) is not quite 6000 feet. 
The road is seven kilometers long, about four miles, and 
the time occupied in the ascent was about an hour, includ- 
ing stops. There are those who think the pleasure of the 
excursion is thus *' vulgarized," and prefer to take a sweat 
in clambering up on foot. Two thousand in a day, how- 
ever, have taken the railway. It certainly saves time, and 



132 OUT-DOOR LIFE tN EUROPE. 

as for views, one can liardly ask for lovelier ones than those 
along the railway. Alpine meadows are scattered among 
the wild rocks, and their bright green sward shaded by the 
fir, the slender beech, or gnarled chestnut. Towards the 
top the trees disappear, but the grass continues all the way, 
the clover, daisy and dandelion also. The fantastic shapes 
and movements of clouds and shadows, colored by the 
changing light, made a mosaic, as it were, of the bosom of 
the lakes below. 

When we reached the summit I saw scattered here and 
there, like bread crumbs, white chapels, hamlets, and towns 
in every direction ; eleven lakes, several cities, wild forests, 
and woodlands ; while southerly opened a panorama of 
Alpine mountains and glaciers of bewildering beauty, which 
Latrobe well says " defies all description, and which a man 
may deem himself favored to have been permitted to 
behold." It is a view, says Cheever, "which to behold, 
one may well undertake a voyage across the Atlantic, a 
glory and a beauty indescribable and nowhere else to be 
enjoyed. When the sun rose so high that the whole masses 
of snow upon the mountain ranges were lighted by the same 
rosy light, it grew rapidly fainter till you could no longer 
distinguish the deep, exquisite pink and rosy hues by means 
of their precious contrast with the cold white. Next the 
sun's rays fell upon the bare rocky peaks where there was 
neither snow nor vegetation, making them shine like jasper, 
and next on the forests and soft grassy slopes, and so down 
into the deep bosom of the vales. The pyramidal shadow 
cast by the Righi was most distinct and beautiful, but tlie 
atmospheric phenomena of the Specter of the Righi was 
not visible." This occurs when the vapors of the valley 
rise perpendicularly under the mountain opposite the 
sun without enveloping the summit itself. Shadows 
oi the Kulm and of tliose standing there are cast in 
magnified proportion on the pliantom screen, encircled 
by one or two halos, bright with the colors of the rain- 
bow. Possibly in such awe-inspiring exhibitions amid 



SWITZERLAXI). 133 

the hills of God, Goethe thought out in his Gauyinede 

the lines : 

" The clouds are hovering 

Downward. The clouds, they 

Condescend to passionate yearning, 
Embraced and embracing, 

Up ! up to thy bosom, 

All Loving Father ! " 

Palatial hotels are here, with too much of the puerilities 
and indulgences of fashionable folly, profaning, as Ruskin 
has somewhere said, these "cathedrals of earth built with 
their gates of rock, pavements of cloud, choirs of stream 
and stone, altars of snow and vaults of purple." 

The view from Righi embraces a circumference of three 
hundred miles. On the east and south, Baedecker counts 
132 peaks, of which the highest is Finsteraarh, 13,160 feet 
high ; Jungfrau, Monck Schreckhorner and Eiger being 
almost as high. As the distance the eye travels is only 
twenty to thirty miles, the prospect is more satisfactory 
than when the altitude of the beholder and remoteness of 
objects confuse the vision. A telescope at the Kulm also 
reveals still more details. Familiarity with history, how- 
ever, is better to a traveler than opera-glasses and tele- 
scopes. 

Look. Exactly opposite is the mountain from which fell 
the immense slide that entombed Goldau. See the memorial 
church, standing over the buried dead. Next week the 
annual commemorative service is held there. There is the 
spire of Cappel where the great Zwingle fell in battle, 
October 12, 1531. You remember how that Luther quar- 
reled with Zwingle about his view of the Eucharist and 
made a parody of the first verse of the first Psalm, 
" Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 
Zwinglians." Both did a glorious service, however, in the 
cause of liberty. Zwingle fell in battle pierced with 150 
wounds. The body lay all night on yonder field. It was 
then formally tried and condemned for treason, and sen- 
tenced to be quartered. 



134 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

For heresy it was burned. The ashes were mingled with 
the ashes of swine, and the furious mob then flung them to 
the winds of heaven. By the banks of that little lake of 
Egeri was the battle and the victory of Morgarten.* There 
is the opening of a valley where Suwarrow and Massena 
fought, even where chamois htmter had hardly dared to 
tread. Fifteen miles westward you see Sempach, in con- 
nection with which another of the " Golden Deeds " of 
Swiss heroes is remembered. The banner of Lucerne was 
almost in the grasp of Austrian spearmen. Arnold von 
Winkelried shouted, " I will open a passage." He swept 
ten spears within his grasp and bowed down among them 
like a tree, as Montgomery has it. So Switzerland again 
was free, "Thus death made way for liberty ! " 

Down the lake from Vitznau to Brumraen, the port of 
Schwytz, and to Fluelen, the port of Uri, occupied a few 
hours longer, and opened to thought and vision the scenerj^ 
associated with William Tell. A new edifice is going up 
at the place where the patriot is said to have leaped out of 
Gessler's boat. A pyramidal rock on the opposite shore 
bears in conspicuous gilt letters the name of Schiller. The 
springs of the Butli, near by, are the birthplace of the Con- 
federation, for here met one November midnight in the 14th 

* This was the first in the ancient struggle of the Swiss for liberty. 
Duke Leopold had the flower of Austrian chivalry. The Swiss knelt 
In prayer by the lake, and asked God's blessing on the day. The 
enemy numbered 20,000, the patriots 1300. Yet they refused the aid 
of fifty exiled brothers who begged that they might cross the border 
and assist. Though repulsed, they hovered near, and when they saw 
the common enemy enter the defile they rolled down an avalanche of 
rocks and tree trunks and crushed the cavalry, whicli, with the valiant 
attack of the 1300, soon turned the tide of victory. The rout was 
complete, the carnage terrible, and the lake crowded with the Austrian 
dead. Before evening the victors knelt again in thanksgiving, then 
received back the banished, whose bravery had atoned for their 
offenses, and set apart the day as one of annual prayer and thanks 
giving. It was continued through centuries until a late period. — Vide 
Muller's Schweitzergeschichte, and Planta's Helv. Confederacy. 



SWITZERLAND. 135 

century three mountaineers and bound themselves together 
by oaths of fidelity. As at the martyrdom of Paul, three 
fountains gushed up on the spot. The following New 
Year's the fortress of Rotsberg was taken, as already nar- 
rated, and this w^as followed by the speedy overthrow of 
Austrian rule. 

Fluelen is our last landing-place. The crippled, goitred 
inhabitants show the prevalence of malaria. Cretinism, or 
idiocy, is occasionally seen. A little way from here is 
Altorf. There you are shown the spot where the Ducal 
hat of Austria w^as displayed, before which Tell would not 
uncover, and where the lime-tree stood for centuries under 
which his son w^as placed with the apple on his head ; also 
the river bank by which Tell lost his life in trying to save 
a child, during an inundation of the valley. The wdiole 
neighborhood is rich in historic romance. The fuller one's 
memory is, the more intense the pleasure of travel through 
Switzerland. What Hillard says of Italy is true of other 
places of foreign travel, "one who is ignorant is a blind 
man in a picture-gallery. Every scrap of knowledge tells. 
Every hour spent in previous preparation brings its recom- 
pense of reward." 

GENEVA TO C II AMBER Y. 

The sunset glowed on the peaks of the Jura as we rap- 
idly passed down along the Avinding Rhone towards the 
boundary of France. Two weeks remained for Italy. I 
had forgotten my Italian, and I knew that the purchase of 
railway tickets is one of the principal annoyances that a 
foreigner suffers when unacquainted with the language 
spoken. Knowing also that only paper money was in use 
in Italy, I bought at Geneva another " Cook-book " of 
coupons for 159 francs — about $30 — good to Turin by Mont 
Cenis Tunnel, thence to Genoa, Pisa, Rome and Naples ; to 
Florence, Bologna, Venice, Verona, Milan, and back to 
Turin, good for sixty daj'-s. Travel by night saves a great 
deal of time, and one avoids the heat and dust of day travel 
in hot weather, particularly^ felt in southern climates. But 



1S6 OVT-DOOn LIFE IN EUnOPF.. 

the evils outbalance the advantages, and I have uniformly 
avoided this exhausting way of journeying. One whose eye 
and mind are taxed dui-ing the da}^ should secure regular 
and ample sleep every night. To say nothing of malarial 
influences, weariness, and other evils connected with night 
travel, the loss of the scenery of countries which one visits, 
at great expense, is no small consideration. It may be said 
that most Americans get little good from their rapid excur- 
sions through Europe. It is true. But when one has 
studiously prepared himself to see people and places, and, 
having seen, can take away picture and photograph, such 
as are often furnished on the spot, he does not care to tarry 
long. He carries home definite impressions. He can renew 
and deepen them at any time. They are permanent, endur- 
ing possessions. 

THE RHONE VALLEY. 

The route on which we now are started begins, as do 
some sermons, with what is regarded a prosy introduction. 
To me, however, the ride was exhilarating through the 
defiles between Savoy and Jura ; along castle-crowned 
declivities, bald and snowy peaks, scarred by avalanches 
and here and there marked by a large shining cross ; over 
high viaducts and by the edge of lofty embankments, 
walled up by solid masonry, along the edge of which you 
look down into the foaming waters of the rushing Rhone ; 
through dark tunnels, and out again suddenly in full view 
of some ancient, drowsy-looking town, beneath the eye, 
with its street scenes, its railway station, and its rural sur- 
roundings unrolled in a swift panorama. By taking the 
express train one is carried through all these places without 
detention. 

At Bellegarde, French officers of customs examined our 
luggage. At Culoz we waited ninety minutes at the base 
of the Colombier, 4700 feet high, near the Castle Chatillon 
and Lake Bourget, twelve miles long. Aix-les-Bains was 
next reached, an old Roman watering-place with sulphur 
springs which annually attract several thousand patients 



SWITZERLAND. 107 

who drink and bathe in these waters. Remains of ancient 
baths, a Doric arch, an Ionic temple of Venus, a Cistertian 
monastery founded 1125, a preci2)ice by the lake where 
Lamartine was inspired to write his " Le Lac," and the path- 
way over which Hannibal is supposed to have led his sol- 
diers — these are some of the attractions of the neighbor- 
hood. 

A FRENCH TOWN. 

I spent a night and a part of the following day at Cham- 
bery. A French inn furnished me comfortable quarters. 
It was built of stone, but with outside entries or platforms 
for the upper stories, like some American tenement houses. 
The windows of my chambers opened eastward towards the 
frontiers of Savoy. I can never forget how the country 
was flooded with golden glory as I arose, rather tardy, but 
not to late too enjoy an excellent breakfast brought to me in 
the salle d manger; nor the pleasant ramble about town that 
followed my morning meal ; the loud and joyous chiming 
of the cathedral bells, as if for some festival ; the broad Rue 
de Boigne and tlie book-stalls of old Latin, French, and Eng- 
lish literature which took my attention quite as long as did 
the famous fountain opposite ; the shops and the people, 
women carrying heavy burdens, or strajiped by leathern 
yoke to a wheelbarrow like a horse in harness — these and 
other pictures caught, kept, and carried away without be- 
coming impedimenta on a rapid but remunerative journey. 

The habit of lively movement, keen observation, and 
memorizing details is one that can be cultivated to a mar- 
velous extent. It doubles the pleasure of sight-seeing. 
But one should eliminate, so tliat he may not be cumbered 
with mere rubbish, as one who should attempt to master 
the entire contents of a newpaper. The " survival of the 
fittest " is all we want. 

TAKING THINGS EASY. 

When I entered the station, the Turin train had not 
arrived. A black nun, with chain, cross and rosary, her 



138 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE, 

face unveiled, Avas chatting with other girls, like herself, in 
their teens. Another lady, well dressed, and evidently used 
to travel, determined, like the pickpocket, to " take things 
easy, " had stretched out on one of the broad lounging-seats, 
with head and shoulders reposing on a pile of luggage, not 
exactly the " big bag, little bag, band-box, bundle," of those 
who are unacquainted with the necessities of migratory life, 
but a pile of sensible wraps and other things which experience 
shows to be indispensable. By the way, the heat and gnats 
of Italy, as well as its extortion, are to be. provided against. 
Camphor is good for the bites ; a few grains of quinine will 
serve as a prophylactic against malaria ; but for beggars and 
extortioners I know of no more potent remedy than that by 
which I saw a reverend D.D. relieved of mendican'cs^iu 
Ireland. Close your eye and point to your ear, and march 
right along. No one w^ould think of talking to a deaf man. 
Casuists will diifer as to the morality of the deception. 

MONT CENIS. 

Here we are at Modane, where the last scene of Sterne's 
" Sentimental Journey " is laid, but where we enter on the 
first scene of journey through Italy, namely, Mt. Cenis tun- 
nel. This is seven miles and a half long, cut through Le 
Grand Vallon, a mountain 9600 feet high, and finished on 
Christmas, 1870. We were twenty-three minutes going 
through. There are no perpendicular shafts, yet there is 
no lack of air, although it was prophesied that men would 
either be stifled with gas or roasted with heat. The expense 
of the undertaking about equals that of Brooklyn bridge, 
fifteen million dollars. Hundreds of lives were lost. Mont 
Cenis, which gives its name to the tunnel, is nearly twenty 
miles away. The valley of the Arc is on the Savoy side, 
and that of the Dora on the Piedmontesc. Fourteen years 
in all were spent in the work. Indeed, it grew to be a de- 
cided hovBy and some felt as that Massachusetts man did 
who heard Loammi Baldwin's enthusiastic advocacy of 
Hoosac Tunnel while yet on paper. Pointing to a map 



ITALY. 139 

Mr. B. exclaimed, " Wh}^ sir ! it seems as if the very finger 
of Providence itself liad pointed out this way from east to 
west." It was answered that it might possibly be, but if 
so, " it was a pitj^ that the finger hadn't pushed a hole through 
Hoosac Mountain." The " finger " used on this tunnel was 
a steel drill, and can be still seen in Turin. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ITALY. 
AREIVAL AT TUEIT^. 

It was evening when, alighting from the train, I found 
myself in the busj^, brilliant Corso at Turin. Everybody 
seemed to be out-doors, enjoying a cool, clear starlight night, 
after a warm August day. As I took my tea, the singing 
of a trio of well-trained voices opposite attracted my atten- 
tion. Their tones were loud, and full of passionate ex- 
pressioUj Crossing the boulevard, I saw that it was an 
opera bouffe. The platform was in front of a hotel, with 
a stage door in the rear and an orchestra in front. Tables 
for perhaps a hundred were ranged around, it where ices and 
wines were served. The music and singing seemed to hold 
the attention, and heavy applause was given to the perfor- 
mance, when was really meritorious, both in the vocal and 
dramatic features. It was not hard to understand from the 
movements of the leading singer, a fine baritone, and the 
soprano, that the intrusive tenor was making love to the 
lady, which action excited the ire of No. 1. Coming away 
as soon as my ice-cream had disappeared, I never heard how 
the affair was settled. Further along the avenue there was 
another similar entertainment. The pleasure-loving Italians 
of this old Sardinian city are very like those of Alfieri's day. 
Better than a guide book is his autobiography. The re- 
miniscences of Silvio Pellicoand Alfieri make this city more 
interesting to a scholar than all the pictures and popish relics 



140 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUlWPE. 

within its walls. When but nine years of age, Alfieri came 
hither, entering Porta Nuova at noon, he writes, of " a glori- 
ous &2ij. All seemed so grand and beautiful, I went almost 
crazy with excitement. " His academy life is minutely de- 
scribed ; his barter of Sunday delicacies for the works of 
Ariosto ; his sound naps, vyrapped in a cloak, while the 
professor lectured in Latin ; his fit of study, when he de- 
voured thirty-six volumes of Ecclesiastical History, and 
then read over and over again the "Arabian Nights"; his 
prodigality and dissipation at sixteen, when with embroi- 
dered dress and span of horses he drove about Turin like a 
young prince — all these, remembered, give an interest to 
the city which mere museums can not yield. In going to 
Genoa, we passed through his birthj)lace, Asti, also neai' 
the battle-ground of Marengo. 

GENOA AND PISA. 

When something of Alfieri's exuberance of feeling at his 
first sight of the sea at Genoa, did I for the first time behold 
the Mediterranean, the "great sea" that Moses wrote of, 
whose waters have been plowed hy ships of Tarshish and 
the iron -beaked galleys of Rome ; the shores of which have 
witnessed the missionary journey of Paul, the ancient Cru- 
sades, the eager rivalries of Venetian, Pisan, and Genoese 
commerce, and from the days of Columbus to those of 
Napoleon and Emmanuel have been associated with most 
stiring events of history. " I never could satisfy mj^self 
with gazing on it, " writes Alfieri. " The magnificent and 
picturesque site of that superb city, Genoa, " inflamed his 
fancy and awakened the most delightful associations. 

The social jealousies among Italian cities have nowhere 
been more marked than at Genoa. The Tuscan proverb 
shows this: " Genoa has a sea without fish, mountains with- 
out trees, men without honor, and women without modesty." 
This feeling, however, is passing away. The beauty of its 
situation gives to Genoa the epithet of Xa superha. Seen 
from the fortified hills that surround it, or from the high 



ITALY. 141 

dome of S. Maria di Carignano, or from the light-house, 
488 feet high, the view rivals that of Naples. The hun- 
dred marble palaces of Genoese nobles, with their orange- 
groves and fountains ; the churches, fortifications, monu- 
ments and arcades ; the castles on the shore ; the ships in 
the harbor at your feet ; the picturesque promontory that 
pushes out into the blue Mediterranean, and distant Corsica 
seen in fair weather, a hundred miles away, are some of 
the objects that charm the eye. 

I first visited the principal promenade, Acqua Sola, high 
up like the Pincian Hill, and enjoyed the shady magnolia 
and oleander, the gushing fountain, the sunset view of the 
summer sea, and the happy gatherings there at that leisure 
hour, chatting awhile with a young Genoese lad who had 
been some years a student in New Orleans and had returned 
awhile to perfect himself in Italian. Columbus was born 
a few miles away from Genoa, at Cogoleto, but the grand 
statue of white marble, erected in 1862 to his honor, stands 
in the square opposite the railway station. While the bulk 
of the streets are narrow and winding, there is one, Strade 
Balbi, which is not surpassed in Europe. The drive along 
the sea is also called the most picturesque highway on the 
Continent. But the glowing descriptions of Rogers, of 
Hare, of Tuckerman, render scenic details needless. 

STREET SCENES. 

The street scenes are a study. You see the swarthy, sun- 
burnt faces of mariners and peasants ; the fair patrician 
ladies yet of Spanish cast, wearing French hats, or grace- 
ful veils ; the priest and friar, sometimes portly and well 
clad, sometimes barefooted and dirty, girdled with rope and 
decked with beads and crucifix ; swarms of half -naked chil- 
dren that sadly need immersion in the sea to cleanse them 
fi'om filth and vermin ; and busy artisans and market- 
women. Here, under fig or olive, you may see the parrots 
placed, while the oleander grove furnishes shade for a cafe 
outdoors. Not a meal I did take-in doors. Under one of 



143 OJJT-BOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

the porticos facing the grand monument to Cohimbus I liad 
my lunches of fruits, ices, or whatever Avas ordered, and then 
at its close the use of a fine upright pianoforte, which stood 
there by the wide entrance, for the pleasure of any who 
wished music with meals. The absorbing interest of Ital- 
ians in music is illustrated by a ghastly tale told by Headley, 
of a man who, while Clara Novello was singing in the opera, 
was stricken by death immediately before her. It was at a 
climax of the play. The moaning, struggling, suffering vic- 
tim turned his livid face on the prima donna, and she gave 
a tragic start. The song w^as about to cease, but the singer 
heard the shout to "go on ! " and went on. The convul- 
sions threw the man bolt upright, while foam and blood 
oozed from his quivering lips. A seatmate held him down 
and the trumpets drowned his last breath. At the close 
of the play, while this man who had held down the dying 
was shouting his " brava, brava ! " the police approached 
and removed the body. Music had had the same engross- 
ing interest to the audience that the gambler's game used 
to have at Baden-Baden. 

The shops of the jewelers and the artisans are interesting. 
Labor seemed cheap. Wishing my pocket-^scissors ground, 
I stepped into a craftsman's abode whose machinery was 
seen in motion from the street door. He took them apart, 
put them to one flying wheel after another, ground and 
burnished and riveted them together with deft fingers, and 
charged but four cents for the job. 

As to sleeping in Genoa, it is about as precarious an un- 
dertaking as at Naples. I did little of it. The rumble and 
hissing of locomotives, the noises of the streets, and the in- 
cessant jabbering of the gossipers abroad, made a bedlam 
of the place. 

The next day's ride was a fatiguing one, partly on account 
of the heat and gnats and loss of sleep, but also on account 
of the eighty tunnels, more or fewer, that continually tried 
our nerves. The rate of speed was higher than we ex- 
pected to find in Italy, and for thirty-nine miles we make 



ITALY. 143 

no stop. The eye would just get comfortably fixed on a 
beautiful villa, surrounded by lemon groves, or a castle, or 
cathedral, and then, quick as a wink, the dazzling day was 
turned to midnio^ht. Then a brief flash of davli«"ht and 
another dark hole. The English-speaking tourists about me 
" made liglit " of it as well as they could, but all agreed 
that there was more dark than day ; that Ave must be in the 
Ho-ly Land ; that the ride had got to be a continual bore. 
But the whole of it was passed at length. The cool even- 
ing breezes off the sea fanned our cheeks as we neared Pisa, 
and restored our good-nature. At one place we were greatly 
deceived. What some were sure were snow-crowned hills 
turned out to be the fine debris of Carrara marble quarries. 
The captivity of Garibaldi is recalled as you look on the 
fortress of Spezzia. The place is now a favorite resort for 
sea-bathing. 

Two nights at Pisa only strengthened disgust of Italian 
street life, at least as seen during the hours commonly given 
to repose. The summer evening dissipations continue till 
near midnight. When the shout of the orange seller ceases, 
and the jingle of drinking-glasses is still, then other and 
unearthly sounds oftentimes follow. Once a street figlit 
appeared to be in progress, and a drunken fellow was about 
to be dragged away by a companion or by the gendarme"^. 
Such crying, and pleading, and yelling — all in Italian, of 
course — I never heard before or want to hear again. Tliis 
was in the first large square after leaving the station, where 
several hotels are located. Quieter quarters are usually 
found at a distance. At Naples I went more than three 
miles away, and there, as at Rome, found comparative quiet. 

A SUNDAY AT PISA. 

Knowing of no Protestant worship at Pisa, I went Sunday 
morning to the Duomo. It is a good place in which to 
think. The droning priest need not disturb your reveries, 
and the long past of Pisa comes to your mind as you sit a 
little aside from the groups of whispering sight-seers that 
are flitting about from altar to altar and picture to picture, 



144 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

Baedecker in hand, and who dodge out the door as wise as 
they entered, satisfied to have " done " the Duomo. Wait 
a while. You are in one of the oldest cities of Europe. It 
has a life of thirty centuries. Pelasgian Etruscans gave 
culture to Rome ages ago, and wandering Greeks from Elis, 
it is said, came hither with Nestor and founded this place. 
Long before Christ it was a Roman colony. For the first 
crusade Pisa equipped one hundred and twenty ships. Her 
banners waved victorious over Sardinia, Corsica, Palermo, 
and the Balearic Isles. This cathedral was built, 1063, to 
commemorate a naval victory over the Saracens. In art 
and science, painting and sculpture, Pisa had few equals. 
At her university gathered distinguished scholars. Yonder 
bronze lamp reminds you of the illustrious Galileo, professor 
of mathematics here, who in 1582 saw the theory of the 
pendulum in those oscillations. Many of these sixty-eight 
columns represent the spoils of ancient temples, Roman and 
Greek, not to add one from Solomon's Temple, as has been 
reported by somebody determined to make a large story. 
Fifty -three shiploads of soil from Calvary make a resting- 
place outside for the honored dead. The marks of the 
genius of Angelo, Giotto, and other painters and sculptors, 
adorn this sanctuary. Stained window and bronze door, 
jeweled altar and long-drawn aisle, nave and transept are 
rich with decorations. 

But we cannot tarry long. Again into the hot atmos- 
phere outside Ave go, crossing the pavement to the cloistered 
cemetery, and, on our way back to the hotel, looking at the 
baptistry adjoining Carapo Santo. Its clustered columns 
and arches are a medley of Gothic and Corinthian art. The 
verger is just starting the melodious echoes that for cen- 
turies have haunted the double dome. These echoes vanish 
as we hark and hear them, 

" Thin and clear, 
And thinner, clearer, farther going ! 
Our echoes roll from soul to soul. 
And grow forever and forever I '* 



ITALY. 145 

That architectural marvel, the Leaning Tower, had less 
of a pitch than the pictures have sometimes given it. Its 
pure white marble galleries rise in the blue sky with airy 
grace to the height of 180 feet. The common opinion is 
that the spongy soil is the cause of the slant. Hillard says 
that to one who has examined the spot there is no room for 
argument or doubt. 

From Pisa to Rome is a distance of 221 miles. We left, 
just as the sun rose over the Apennines, and reached the 
end of our journey in eight hours, the city towards which 
through months of travel my eyes had been ever turning. 
In seeing the seven-hilled city the interest of the tour cul- 
minated. All before this had been preliminary, and all 
that followed was supplementary. Nor was it the Rome 
of the Popes I sought, but the Rome of the Caesars. Grand 
indeed I expected to find St. Peter's, with its multitudinous 
treasures of modern art, but the Coliseum, " the monarch 
of all European ruins," possessed far more attractiveness 
for me. It was old Rome I came to visit, the Rome that 
had lived in school-boj'' imagination, the city where Au- 
gustus ruled and Cicero dwelt. I was eager to see not so 
much her Madonnas and frescoes and medieval relics, as the 
crumbling memorials of her ancient grandeur, and there to 
reflect on the imperishable influence of that august power 
which has shaped the language, the literature and civiliza- 
tion of the race. 

ROME AND THE ROMANS. 

Modern travel in Italy is a process of disenchantment. 
You have pictured to yourself an ancient city like Rome 
clothed with solitary and romantic desolation. Stillness 
and beauty attend its decay. Fancy has draped every 
ruin with ivy and mosses. Nothing is to be heard but the 
hoot of the owl or the silent tread of the passer-by. You 
have imagined herds of cattle browsing on the yielding turf, 
and everything in the neighborhood in keeping with the 
solemn scene. But you enter the city through an elegant 
railway station, and find yourself, as in England and 



146 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

America, beset with clamorous coachmen. One of them 
drives you through noisy streets to a fine hotel, where you 
have a room with the modern conveniences, including the 
electric wire to call boots, chambermaid, or porter. You 
walk or ride about the city, which you have clothed with 
fancy's brilliant hues. But you find a pig-sty in a Roman 
palace, and a cobbler-shop in a temple of Augustus. Filth 
and squalor, beggars and thieves are on every hand. The 
poetry changes to prose, the dream to stern reality. Not 
that there is no room for sentiment or enthusiasm; there is, 
but much of the glamour fades and the illusory coloring 
disappears. Forewarned of this, one may escape some- 
thing of disappointment. 

The weather was hot at mid-day, but not more so than at 
New York. An umbrella should be used if one is exposed 
to the direct rays of the sun, and sudden extremes of temper- 
ature avoided, such as are met with while visiting galleries 
or churches, where the air is much cooler than outdoors. 
Rome abounds with fountains of pure water, of which 
I drank freely. Nowhere abroad, excepting once in 
Paris, did I experience harm from the constant use 
of this beverage. The notion that one must use intoxi- 
cating liquors as a guard against illness on sea or land, 
is merest moonshine, as shown by innumerable testi- 
monies. 

THE COLISEUM AND FORUM. 

First of all to these, accompanied by an American clergy- 
man, I ordered our driver to proceed. The hour was favor- 
able, for the glare of the day was past. The sunset glow 
was fading from the Alban mountains ; the shadows began 
to deepen under the gray arches of the silent Tiber, and 
the soft blue of the heavens, in which tower and dome and 
column stood in clear outline, formed a beautifully trans- 
parent medium. Then along the Appian Way there came 
a gentle evening breeze which, if not a friendly, healthful 
visitant, brought a grateful relief to the noontide heat from 



ITALY. 147 

which we had been hiding several hours in our comfortable 
quarters at Piazza di Spagna. 

What a world of history is here ! *' Troja f uit " we were 
taught in early life, and here the fitting inscription for 
every wall and arch and ivy-crowned ruin is " It was." 
The reach and the significance of this history held us as 
with a spell. 

" The Niobe of nations ! there she stands, 

Childless and crownless, in her voiceless woe ; 
A nempty urn within her withered hands, 

Whose holy dust was scattered long ago. 
The Goth, the Christian, Time, War, Flood and Fire 

Have dwelt upon the seven-hilled city's pride. 
She saw her glories, star by star, expire, 

And up the steep, barbarian monarch ride 
Where the car climbed the Capitol. 

Alas ! the lofty city ! and alas 
The trebly hundred triumphs ! and the day 

When Brutus made the dagger's edge surpass 
The conqueror's sword in bearing fame away 1 

Alas for Tully's voice and Virgil's lay, 
And Livy's pictured page ! " 

We looked with eagerness, but our thoughts were too deep 
for connected speech. This little space within the Esqui- 
line, the Palatine and Capitoline is the scene of Roman 
history from Romulus to Constantine. Here are the pre- 
cincts of that temple whose law has shaped the destinies of 
nations. It is peopled, to our imagination, even now with 
spiritual existences that yet rule us in the realm of thought 
Avith a more potent power than when they dwelt in the 
flesh. 

Jt was while that cultured critic Horace Wallace was 
writing his monograph, "The Roman Forum," that the 
darkness of death fell on his eyes. He soon after died, 
but those lines will live which so eloquently described the 
emotions of a Christian scholar at Rome.* The tremulous 

* " Art, Scenery, and Philosophy in Europe," by Horace Binney 
Wallace, Esq. Philadelphia : 1855, 



148 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

handwriting indicates that the words were penned with 
difficulty and pain, and the abruptness with whicli they 
close adds expressiveness to the thoughts whicli they truth- 
fully express. Rome, he says, " is the magnetic 'pole of 
our moral sensihilities. In all other places they tremble 
toward it, in it they become riveted to the soil." Her gal- 
leries, he says, are stored with countless treasures, yet so 
far are they from constituting the secret of Rome's attrac- 
tion, that we view even the Apollo with an imperfect 
enthusiasm. The landscape has peculiar beauties, yet the 
chief interest arises from the reflection that we are looking 
upon the country of Rome. Gorgeous are the ceremonials 
of her Church, yet their chief interest arises from the back- 
ground against which they are viewed. The visible city, 
splendid as much of it is to the eye and taste, lapses into 
nothingness before Rome of the mind, over which hang as 
an electric cloud thrilling memories of the days when Rome 
was the lawgiver of the nations, inventress of arts, source 
of that social wisdom which is civil power, and was girt 
with a divinity invisible to the frivolous but irresistible to 
the thoughtful mind. Silent and deserted is the Forum, 
*' trodden only by the steps of peasants as they loiter from 
their toils, or of monks as they cross it to their evening 
chants. Yet with spiritual tenants how thronged, how 
glittering is the place ! To the intellect how intense, how 
vital the influences of the spot ! " 

There stood the Capitol. There was the daily meeting- 
place of the Senate of Rome, the patricians of earth. 
From those councils went forth protection to oppressed 
right, punishment to lawless violence throughout the globe, 
till Rome became the tribunal of States, the conscience of 
the world. The Palatine on the left was the original city 
of Romulus, the scene of those Livian legends which Beauty 
will still preserve, though Truth abandon them. On the 
right is the Esquiline, where were the residences of Maecenas, 
Horace, and Virgil, and at its base the site of that temple 
in which Cicero revealed to the senators the conspiracy of 



ITALY. liO 

Catiline, and there the uncovered stones of the Via Sacra 
once swept by conquerors in triumph. ^' Here was the cradle 
of all civilized polity, the nursery where grew those forms of 
state which are yet the unshaken deities of the mortal 
scene, Avhose empire is deep as our nature and continuing 
as our race." These thoughts fitly express the emotions of 
a thoughtful visitor to this center of Imperial Rome. 

FLAVIAN AMPHITHEATRE. 

Then there is the other great standing memorial, not 
only of Roman power,but of the faith of the early martyrs, 
the Flavian Amphitheatre. Bishop Kip well terms it " the 
noblest remnant of old Rome "; the spot where multitudes 
poured out their blood to bequeath a pure faith to us, and 
taught their pagan persecutors how a Christian could die ! 
Thousands of captive Jews were employed in building it 
just after Jerusalem was destroyed. It seated 100,000 peo- 
ple. Five thousand beasts were slain in the dedicatory 
games, and thousands of human lives were sacrificed down 
to the days of Honorius, a.d. 395. Then there came from 
the East a monk, Telemachus, to protest' against the bar- 
barism. In the excess of his zeal, he sprang into the arena 
to separate the combatants, but, according to Theodoret, 
was torn in pieces by the maddened spectators. His death, 
however, made so deep an impression that an imperial edict 
was issued prohibiting these public butcheries. It is said 
that 19,000 were murdered in a single entertainment before 
Nero. 

The story of Felicitas, the noble Roman matron who was 
slain with the same SAVord that slew her sons, seven of 
whom fell martyrs to Christ ; of Perpetua, another mother, 
who was deaf to the entreaties of an aged pagan father ; 
and of that other Felicitas, who was, with her unborn child, 
sentenced to die in the arena — these and other thrilling 
reminiscences crowd upon the mind as you walk under 
these crumbling arches. Making all needful abatement for 
the illusions of history^ the romantic fabrications and, 



1^0 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

exaggerations common to all ages ; dividing, as has been 
suggested, the great army of martyrs slain in the Coliseum 
by twenty-five, or by fifty even, still this sacred spot re- 
mains, as Dickens well says, " the most impressive, stately, 
solemn, grand, majestic, mournful sight conceivable — God 
be thanked, a ruinf'^ The Coliseum is also connected 
with the downfall of the power of papacy as well as pagan- 
ism, for in 1848 the great reformer Gavazzi preached in 
this historic enclosure his sermons of stormy eloquence that 
helped to rouse the people to arms in that March revolt 
which resulted in the suppression of the Jesuits. The Pope 
was assailed, his minister assassinated, his secretary shot 
in his own palace, and the so-called " Vicar of Christ " fled 
in a servant's guise to the Bavarian ambassador for shelter 
from his own people. God " setteth up one and putteth 
down another." The Apocalyptic shout then began, "Re- 
joice over her ! " A Florentine journal, hearing that " Pope 
Pius wept bitterly," printed and scattered far and wide 
through Tuscany a hand-bill headed " II Papa Piange," 
penned in words of blistering invective, the last sentence 
of which reads : 

" Weep, Pope — weep burning tears over the tomb thou 
hast dug for thyself ; weep, for Italy will yet be a great 
and glorious fact, while the popedom becomes a polluted 
name ; weep, for while Italy rises more beauteous from the 
stake to which thou condemnest her, the popedom will sink 
into putrefaction and decay, amidst the joyous shout of 
emancipated nations ! " 

TJNDEKGROUND SIGHTS. 

We stepped into our carriage at the entrance and drove 
away, feeling that we had lived long in those few moments, 
for each, as Goethe said on his visit there,was " an exquisite 
moment." Nor were the emotions less intense when we 
groped our way, candle in hand, through the sepulchral 
darkness of the Catacombs. These labyrinthine galleries, 
if Stretched iu one contijiuQus line, would extend 90Q 



ITALY. 151 

miles, more than twice the wliole length of Italy itself. 
They were begun in apostolic times, and were used as burial- 
places for Christians till the capture of the city by Alaric, 
A.D. 410. It is supposed that six millions were buried in 
them. Originally they all belonged to private families ; 
hence many of the titles taken from their owners still survive. 
We selected the Calixtine, which are regarded the most 
interesting. Each of us paid half a franc. We were led 
through a garden to a door. Unlocking it, the guide led us 
down a score of stone steps, handed around the lighted 
cerini, and bade us follow. In this section fourteen popes 
are said to have been buried. The air did not smell the 
sweetest; but I suppose it was only filled with the odor of 
sanctity. The bones of some of the dead were left uncov- 
ered, the exposure of which elicited grave criticism. Queer 
relics have been taken out of some of the tombs, as a jump- 
ing-jack or jointed doll from beside the dust of a little 
maid; hair-pins, brooches, and other articles of feminine 
ornament; lamps and candlesticks, and the tools of a wool- 
carder, once supposed to be instruments of torture. 

One writer estimates that there are in this section 170,000 
martyrs buried. I noticed the picture of the Good Shep- 
herd, and other symbols indicative of the faith and hope of 
the primitive Christians. The dove, the vine, the olive 
branch and palm, the anchor, the ship, and the fish are 
everywhere found. Vases or tear-bottles are fastened by 
plaster to some tombs. Cockney difficulties seem to have 
troubled people in early days, for you see 'ic for hie, 'ora 
for hora; and, on the other hand, Aossa for ossa, and Aocto- 
bris for octobris. 

Meetings were held here, both private and public; a 
family by themselves at the cubicula, on the anniversaries 
of the birth and death of the departed, or a hundred in some 
larger gallery where the Eucharist was administered. In- 
dications of these gatherings are found in records and in the 
architectural arrangements for chairs and benches when the 
chambers were hewn from the rock. But we care not to 



152 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

tarry long in these dens and caves of the earth, the great 
underground " library, on the shelves of which Death has 
arranged his works," — to use Abbe Gerbet's expressive 
figure. 

ANCIENT MEMOEIALS. 

^NTot far away we saw the church of the Domine Quo 
Vadis, where the Lord and Peter met, and where the pre- 
tended footprints of Christ is still exhibited. Probably 
neither ever saw Rome. History points out the place of 
Paul's imprisonment and that of his martyrdom with suffi- 
cient certainty to give one satisfaction in visiting them. I 
rode to both. The Mamertine Prison I did not find as 
stenchful and filthy as Salliist makes it. A modern stair- 
case conducts to the lower dungeon, which Ampere believes 
to be Pelasgic, and the oldest structure in Rome. The 
monk, our guide, held his lamp near to the spot to which 
the Catiline conspirators and others were fixed and strangled 
one by one. Here a king, Jugurtha, was starved to death. 
Here two decemvirs committed suicide. By the door the 
Emperor Vitellius was murdered. From out this gloomy 
pit Cicero passed to the Forum one afternoon, and told the 
people in one word that Lentulus and his companions had 
just been executed : Vixerunt ! " They have ceased to 
live ! " This was the same afternoon that the Senate were 
debating what to do with them. Cato and Cicero prevailed, 
and the guilty were slain untried. Catiline fell in battle. 
As you step out again into the street and looked towards 
the Temple of Vesta, you recall the tradition of the gulf 
which the oracle declared would never close till Rome's best 
gift was sacrificed. In full armor Marcus Curtius on horse- 
back plunged into the abyss, which closed forever. 

But these ghastly memories are getting monotonous. 
Jump on one of these omnibuses and ride with me over 
to the 

PINCIAN HILL. 

I went there one sunny afternoon about sunset and saw 
Rome in its most cheerful aspect. Take an outside seat, 



ITALY. 153 

and watch the people and places as you ride. There is 
Hilda's Tower, one of the localities about which Hawthorne 
has thrown a peculiar charm by his story of "Marble 
Faun." * There is the little window in the upper story, 
whose white curtain fair Hilda used to draw aside to let in 
the morning light, and there the white doves she loved so 
well, " skimming, fluttering, and wheeling about the top- 
most height of the tower," where still stands the votive 
lamp. 

Now we pass the fountain of Trevi, of which a parting- 
draught will ensure your safe return some day to Rome 
again — that is, if you want to come. The water must also 
be " mixed with faith " abundantly. Here is Piazza di 
Spagna, with an imposing flight of steps leading to tlie 
Trinita. On these you see loungers and groups of 
"models." Dickens has sketched some of them : the 
patriarch, with a long staff ; the assassin model, dressed in 
a brown cloak, and arms folded in his mantle ; the lounger, 
the haughty man, the Holy Family, and " all the falsest 
vagabonds in the world." 

We stop in the Piazza del Popolo, and climb the ter- 
races of the Pincian Hill by zigzag paths shaded by the 
cypress and pine. Here gather the wealthy and the titled, 
soldiers and ecclesiastics, foreign visitors, and groups of 
merry children, who in dress and feature present as great a 
contrast to those we saw an hour ago, as do the denizens 
of the Seven Dials and those of Hyde Park, in London. 
But the gay turnouts and the crowds on foot do not consti- 
tute the greatest attraction of the Pincian — the level lawns 
and gushing fountains, the busts and pedestals Avhicli 
adorn the smooth avenues. Rather it is the historic pano- 
rama that is spread out before you as you sit on the broad 

* " The path ascended a little, and ran along under the walls of a 
palace, but soon passed through a gateway and terminated in a small 
paved courtyard, bordered by a low parapet." Vol. ii., p. 493. The 
street is Via Portoghese, and the tower is known as the Monkey's 
Tower. 

N 



154 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE, 

parapet ; more interesting, in many respects, than 2iny 
other on which the sun shines. How many in the days of 
Caesar used to sup here, guests of Lucullus, in his beautiful 
Pincian villa ! Plutarch says that these sumptuous gar- 
dens, baths, statues, and other works of art, furnished by 
this wealthy general, surpassed in luxury and magnificence 
even those of kings. Here the fifth wife of Claudius, the 
infamous Messalina, reveled with her j)ai"amours, till the 
order came from the emperor that she must die. " The 
hot blood of the wanton smoked on the pavement, and 
stained with a deeper hue the variegated marbles of 
Lucullus." At one end of the Pincian are the Borghese 
gardens, and at the other those of the Villa Medici. The 
latter are beautified by borders of box, arches of ilex, and 
seats of mossy stone, sculptured fountains, and flower-beds. 
The former are three miles in circuit, and enriched with 
the remains of early art vases, sepulchral monuments, 
shattered pillars, and broken arches. 

Hawthorne's ^' Transformation " has a graphic picture of 
this sylvan retreat, threaded with avenues of cypress, like 
the dark flames of funeral candles ; brightened by beds of 
violets, daisies, and rosy anemones, and full of dreamy 
quietude and languid enjoyment. It is sunset now, and 
we will not take the risk of the Roman fever, but rather 
stroll along the brilliant Corso. Yet tarry on this parapet 
long enough to fix some of these landmarks, by which this 
picture may be remembered. The blue hills enclose the 
wide Campagna, through which the winding Tiber flows 
to the sea, seen in a clear sky far away beyond Ostia, and 
once the home of four millions of people. St. Peter's 
forms the central object, " the world's cathedral, the 
grandest edifice ever built by man, painted against God's 
loveliest sky." To the right is the Vatican, and in front 
is the Castle of St. Angelo, once a lofty, graceful pile of 
Parian marble, with gilded dome, a magnificent imperial 
mausoleum, but now a dingy prison. Beatrice Cenci is said 
to haye been incarcerated there. To the left of St. Peter'§ 



ITALY. i:>'j 

is the steep coast of Janiculum, where once the Temple of 
Janus opened its gates at the sound of war, but closed them 
with returning peace. Further to the left is the Forum, 
the Tarpeian Rock, and the site of the Campus Martins, 
now built over. Hard by was the Temple of Apollo, 
erected b.c. 430, near which foreign ambassadors were 
received before their entrance into Rome, and victorious 
generals paused to hear the decree of the Senate which 
gave them a triumphal welcome. Here 3000 followers of 
Marius were murdered by Sylla after he had promised 
them their lives, their dying cries being noticed by the 
Senate in session at the Temple of Bellona. But the mass 
of buildings and the thronging memories of this "broadest 
page of history " bewilder. 

Hark ! what is that melody that breaks the stillness of 
the evening ? A vesper hymn, chanted in a neighboring 
church or convent, faintly borne in tremulous waves of song, 
rising and falling like the swell of the sea : 

"Ave, Regina coelorum, 
Ave, Domina angelorum. 
Salve radix, salve porta, 
Ex qua mundo lux est, orta, 
Guade Ylrgo gloriosa, 
Super omnes speciosa ; 
Vale, O valde decora 
Et pro nobis Christum exora." 

It reminds us that the worship of mortals has not yet 
ceased in this city of ancient paganism. As the old temples 
and altars remain, so too does much of the idolatrous super- 
stition of earlier years continue. 

STREET LIFE IN ROME. 

Tlie Corso is the central street, narrow and irregular, but 
bright and busy, particularly in the evening. Here are 
shops of all kinds, and cafes Avith large mirrors and brilliant 
lamps. French is quite commonly spoken. You are struck 
with the great number of priests in the streets, two or thrcQ 



15G OUT-BOOn LIFE IX EUROPE. 

usually walking together. One of them was assassinated 
not long before my arrival, by an Italian, who remarked, 
as he stabbed him, " We have had enough of them." Some 
of the faces of the women show, as Hillard says, " passion 
and peril slumbering in their depths ; a strange mixture of 
animal tenderness and animal fierceness ; a volcanic force 
which, at a moment's warning, might break out in explo- 
sions of love, hatred, jealousy or revenge." 

The Corso is gayest at the time of the Carnival, when 
the wildest enthusiasm prevails, and the most grotesque 
costumes and decorations are displayed. *' Every sort of 
bewitching madness of dress — scarlet jackets ; quaint old 
stomachers ; Polish pelisses, strained and tight as ripe 
gooseberries ; tiny Greek caps, all awry ; flowing skirts 
and dainty waists ; laughing faces, gallant figures that they 
make ! " "At nightfall the Corso becomes a cloud of fire, 
Avhich shines out from many a torch and lantern. Red, 
green, blue, and many a gay color flashes on the sight, until 
the whole scene becomes one of bewitching beauty." Every 
one tries to extinguish his neighbor's light. Oranges and 
bunches of flowers are hurled at lanterns, while some from 
balconies fish with hook and line for candles, or perform 
some other roguish trick upon those who are in the street 

below. 

ST. petee's chukch. 

Rome is a many-leaved picture-book. It would take a 
long time to see all the churches, galleries, studios, museums, 
gardens, tombs, palaces and basilicas. Tourists must be 
content to leave unseen a great proportion of its countless 
treasures of ancient and medieval art, and those historic 
localities in and near the city, about which cluster the most 
romantic interest. With two friends I visited St. Peter's, 
on a Roman holiday. The bells rang out joyous peals as 
we crossed the square. The sweeping colonnade ; the 
granite obelisk, brought by Caligula from Egypt ; the 
fountains on either side ; the colossal statues and the tower- 
ing domej rising 609 feet in a cloudless sky — these crowded 



ITALY. 157 

on our view with bewildering effect, as we alighted at the 
entrance. Dismissing the vetturino, we leisurely examined 
the red monolith, once a pagan idol, now bearing the inscrip- 
tion, " Christus Regnat." One recalls the thrilling scene, 
three hundred years ago, when it was raised and would 
liave fallen but for the cry of the sailor Bresca, who shouted 
— when death was threatened to any one who spoke — 
" Acqua alle funi" — " Wet the ropes.''^ The Easter palms 
are still procured of his native village, and used in the 
annual pageant of St. Peter's. 

We then entered this wonderful edifice, which covers 
some half dozen acres, which employed in its erection the 
time and treasures of forty-three popes, or three hundred 
years and sixty millions of dollars ; which is kept in repair 
at an annual expense of thirty thousand, and which, in its 
magnificent appointments and gathered treasures, mocks 
comparison with any building reared by man. It is useless 
to repeat the impressions made, as the surprising beauty 
and magnitude of the interior met our gaze. Mendelssohn 
said it seemed as a forest in the undistinguishable mass of 
details, all sense of measurement being lost in the over- 
whelming grandeur that expands the heart. Another 
speaks of an oppression of the heart with a sense of suffoca- 
tion, of the nature of which you neither know nor ask. 
Frederika Bremer says truly that it is a Pantheon rather 
than a church. " The aesthetic intellect is edified more than 
the God-loving or the God-seeking soul. The exterior and 
interior appear more like an apotheosis of the popedom 
than a glorification of Christianity and its doctrine." One 
writer regards the gorgeous ceremonies of St. Peter's as 
"grand and sublime in the highest degree," another as 
" puerile, tawdry and wearisome." 

One can not forget that vast sums required to complete 
this building were gained by the sale of indulgences, 
and that the diso-ustino: abuses under Tetzel led Luther 
to nail up his theses in 1517, and so initiate the Refor- 
mation. 



158 OUT-BOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

IDOL WORSHIP. 

One of the first objects that attracted us was the old 
heathen idol of Jupiter, a statue in bronze, about which a 
crowd of men, women and children pressed with apparently 
sincere adoration, bowing to it, caressing and kissing the 
extended foot of what is now christened Peter. The 
mother or father lifted the little child to rub its lips on the 
metal toe, and youths stood on tiptoe to reach the same ; 
while some more fastidious ones wiped from the dirty foot, 
with a handkerchief, the moisture of previous mouths. 

Bishop Kip justly asks the question : " Has the Romanist 
any reason to laugh *at the poor Mussulman, who performs 
a pilgrimage to Mecca, to kiss the black stone of the Caaba ? 
On St. Peter's Day this idol is clothed in magnificent robes, 
the gemmed tiara placed on its head, the jewelled collar on 
its neck, soldiers stationed by its side, and candles burning 
about it. A clergyman of the church of England told me 
that the effect of the black image thus arrayed was perfectly 
ludicrous ; and, with the people all kneeling before it, had 
he not known that he was in a Christian church, he should 
have supposed himself in a heathen temple, and that the 
idol." The ridiculous worship of the w^ooden doll Bambino, 
kept in Ara Coeli, is of the same character. 

We did not ask a sight of the veritable spear with which 
the Redeemer was pierced — there are others exhibited else- 
where just as genuine ; nor of the handkerchief that holds 
the impression of his face — there are six other rivals, one 
having four bulls to back up its claims, and another four- 
teen bulls ; nor a piece of the true cross, and so on, ad 
nausedm. But all the mummery here witnessed need not 
divert one from that which is beautiful in art or suggestive 
in history. I was impressed with the w4se policy of those 
who, believing in the utility of the confessional, furnish 
boxes for a score or more nationalities, so that Europeans, 
Orientals, Occidentals, Accidentals, Pa23ists and Ape-ists are 
all accommodated, as tliey may chance to visit Rome, and 
may wish to unburden their hearts to a fellow-sinner behind 



ITALY. 159 

the lattice. If they would make mutual disclosures the act 
would be more scriptural. " Confess your faults one to 
another." 

The Vatican and Sistine Chapel ; the hoary old Inquisi- 
tion, with its machines of torture and dungeons of bloody 
memories ; the gardens and other localities contiguous, need 
not be described in detail. We must leave many places 
unvisited, and leave undescribed many places which were 
visited, but an account of which belongs ratlier to art 
criticism than to a picture of out-door life. Let no one 
omit Rome because he has only a few days to tarry. If he 
is prepared to see this centre of the world's history, one 
day, even, brings a stimulus to thought, and memory, and 
imao-ination that never can be lost. 

Said President Felton, of Harvard University: "The 

first hour after the sight of Rome greets you is, perhaps, 

most memorable in the life of an educated man ; it is 

impossible to describe it." He was there but forty-eiglit 

liours, but he calls tliem " two glorious days," as well he 

miglit. Few, liowever, have eyes like his, for it is with 

memory we see. Culture creates an atmosphere in which 

the scholar enjoys that which mere ej^esight can not discern. 

Such a one comes to Rome as to a long-familiar spot, and 

comes not for chickens and champagne, or to scatter money 

in wasteful folly, but to verify and actualize what has long 

lived in his imagination as a part of the permanent fixtures 

of his intellectual life. 

* 

ENVIRONS OF ROME. 

Of the environs of the city the hurrying summer visitor 
sees nothing, yet a bulky book like Hare's "Days Near 
Rome" is needed merely to outline the almost endless 
variety of sights within the encompassing Alban and Sabine 
Hills, the land of Latium, or among the more distant 
Volscian Heights. If but one excursion can be made, I 
would say, though not froni personal knowledge, that 
Tivoli is the place of all the most alluring. It is eighteei^ 



160 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

miles distant, and the delight of painters and poets. 
Adrian's Villa has been robbed of its picturesqueness by 
the ruthless hand of Signor Rosa, he who stripped the 
Coliseum- of its floral loveliness. Still you can live over 
again in fancy, as you stand by the juniper's shade, the 
scenes when these baths, academies, porticos, and theaters 
were the haunts of luxury and pleasure ; when the agonies 
of Prometheus w^ere here rehearsed ; when these grounds 
echoed to song, and shout, and soldier step. The Emperor 
had his spacious barracks for the Pretorian Guards, also a 
miniature Yale of Tempe, and a flower j^lain known as 
Elysian Fields. Onward you walk, ascending the hill of 
Tivoli, and think of Brutus and Cassius who fled hither 
after the murder of Caesar ; of Zenobia, the captive queen 
of Palmyra, who was kept here in custody after she had 
graced the triumph of Aurelian ; of the Sibyl and of the 
Sirens, whose caves are near. An artificial cascade, 320 
feet high, was opened in 1834. The villas of Maecenas 
and Quintilius Varus, so called, and that of D'Este, with 
their arcades of acacias and masses of lilacs and roses, 
complete the picture, touched " with the graj^ mists of an 
antiquity five hundred years older than Rome, and a purj)le 
light thrown over all, drawn from the poetry of Horace, 
Catullus and Propertius." 

NAPLES AND POMPEIT. 

Seven hours are required to make the trip from Rome to 
Naples, a distance of 162 miles. The ride w^as a hot and 
dusty one and the pictures of Italian life were not attrac- 
tive. Numerous fortified towns compactly built on heights, 
with a prominent church tower in the center, w^ore a feudal 
look. Scattered villages were passed through where the 
rural population inhabited straw-thatched cottages, low 
and dirty, with unmistakable signs of social degradation 
on ever}^ hand. Girls and women bending under huge 
burdens walked along the roads in the scorching sun, 
sometimes hanging for support to the tail of a donkey, who 



ITALY. 161 

was almost hidden by his burden of corn in the ear. 
Filthy, crippled, and deformed beggars crowd about the 
fence that surrounds railway stations, and utter a mono- 
tonous cry for money. The condition of the peasantry in 
the interior and mountain villages is less deplorable. The 
scarcity of water is noticeable, and the methods of irriga- 
tion by men and mules are quite interesting. The ancient 
threshing floors and men pounding and beating out grain ; 
the hemp fields ; the cactus, lemon and fig, Avith other trop- 
ical productions, remind us that we are nearing southern 
Italy. 

If one has the leisure to make the journey by carriage 
in short and easy stages as did Horace, b.c. 41, described in 
his fifth Satire, he will pass many classic places which the 
railway does not reach, such as the spot where Coriolanus 
yielded to the solicitations of his mother and Avife, with- 
drawing the Volscian army and saying as he did so, " O 
mother, thou has saved Rome, but destroyed thy son ! " — 
the locality where Milo slew Publius Clodius, a crime that 
called from Cicero a powerful but ineffectual defence ; the 
site of the palace of Circe, and the prisons where Ulysses' 
companions were confined after their metamorphosis by 
the sorceress ; the convent where Thomas Aquinas studied ; 
the tower raised to Cicero by his freedman on the ground 
v/here the orator was slain by the sword of Poplius, both 
of his hands and head being carried back to Rome and 
exposed at the Rostra, and the meeting-place where the 
praetor Lucus and the poet Horace, dressed in purple and 
preceded by youthful maidens scattering incense, were 
presented to Maecenas, the noble favorite of Augustus. • 

Arpinum, the birthplace of Tully, southeast of Rome, and 
the Fucine lake and tunnel, are also noteworthy stoj^ping 
places. The latter cost the labor of 30,000 men, during 
eleven years. When finished, Claudius celebrated the 
event by the butchery of three triremes of men in a nlock 
i]stvsi\ battle. Few, however, choose a lengthened, zigzag 
journey, but push on by rail to Naples. 



162 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

CLASSIC SURROUNDINGS. 

Naples, or New City, so called since the Punic wars, was 
founded, according to tradition, by a Syren, Parthenope ; 
or by one of the Argonauts, B.C. 1300. It was for a long- 
time a Greek city in language, government and customs. 
Roman exiles took refuge here, and the last Emperor, 
Augustulus, retired to one of its forts when dethroned, a.d. 
476. Yirgil made Naples his favorite residence, as he says, 
" In Mantua born, but in Calabria bred, 'tis Naples owns 
me now, whose pastoral charge, whose rural toils and arms 
I sung." His tomb is in a vineyard on the outskirts, but 
where his dust is nobody knows with any more certainty 
than as to where Peter's body lies. While hinting at the 
classic environs, the cave of the Cumsean Sibyl, where 
^neas came to gain information, the Temple of Apollo, 
Lake Avernus, and the Phlegrsean fields should be 
mentioned. These romances were embellished and exag- 
gerated by the Greek poets. The forests about the dark 
and birdless lake were dedicated to Hecate. Here, it is 
said, Ulysses descended in the lower Cimmerian darkness 
and evoked the dead, as told in the Odyssey. 

Virgil's Tartarus is easily reached — that is, by men. 
Headley tells of his passage through the darkness and the 
water on the back of his guide. The red light of his torch 
flung a glare on the rocks over head, and on the black- 
smeared face of the carrier, till it seemed as if he had 
really reached the infernal world astride the devil's back. 
He almost heard the bark of Cerberus and the roar of the 
Cocytus as he splashed through the water along gloomy 
galleries. There was an English lady whose curiositjT- was 
aroused to see the Sibyl's baths in these Stygian depths. 
" Without thinking how she was to be carried, she was 
just adjusting her dress, when the guide, stooping down, 
suddenly inserted her carefully astraddle of his neck and 
plunged into the water. The squeal that followed would 
have frightened all the Sibyls of the mountains out of their 
grottos. It was too late, however, to retreat. The pas- 



ITALY. 163 

sage was too narrow to turn round in, sne was com- 

pelled to enter the first chamber before she could be re- 
lieved from her predicament. When she came again into 
the daylight a more astonished or pitiable looking object I 
never beheld. Her elegant bonnet was blackened and 
crushed, and she stood fingering it with an absent look, 
uttering now and then an expression of horror at what she 
had passed through." 

The Island of Capri may be mentioned in this con- 
nection. The Emperor Tiberius made it notorious for his 
debaucheries. He reared twelve villas and dedicated them 
to as many gods. The Blue Grotto, with its lustrous 
water and stalactite roof, is a place of notable interest. 
" The waters are the brightest, loveliest blue that can be 
imagined," says Mr, Clemens. " No tint could be more 
lavishing, no lustre more superb. Throw a stone into the 
water, and the myriad of tin}' bubbles that are created 
flash out a brilliant glare like blue theatrical fires. Dip 
an oar and its blade turns to splendid frosted silver, tinted 
with blue. Let a man jump in and instantly he is cased in 
an armor more gorgeous than ever kingly Crusader wore." 

MEMORIES OF PAUL. 

But of all these seashore resorts, ancient Puteoli will 
most interest the Christian traveler, as being the port 
where a corn-ship from Alexandria once landed a Roman 
prisoner, Paul, the Apostle, on his way to Caesar's judg- 
ment seat. The Castor and Pollux had had a fine run of 
180 miles that day from Rhegium, as we learn from Acts 
xxviii. : 13. This spacious port was the Liverpool of Italy, 
and afforded secure anchorage for countless vessels. It had 
a conspicuous lighthouse, which would have been a welcome 
sight to the belated, storm-tossed captive, who had been 
four months on his way from Caesarea. He looked across 
the beautiful bay and saw Vesuvius, not as now, scarred 
and black with eruptions, but clothed with vineyards, 
while the cities of the plain were lying unharmed beneath 



164 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUHOPE. 

its shadow. A few years later these were -destroyed as 
Sodom of old. Among the victims was Drnsilla and the 
child born of adulterous union with Felix. The apostle's 
warnings of a judgment to come had made them tremble, 
but had not led t6 repentance. Perhaps the approach of 
that fire-storm, as Professor Butler suggests, may have 
awakened in her breast the forgotten appeals which Paul 
made at Csesarea in Herod's judgment hall. 

Josephus, Strabo, Pliny, and the many biograj^hers of 
Paul, give us a vivid picture of the Naples of that day, and 
the historic associations that invest it with great interest. 
The promontories of Minerva, with their villas and 
gardens ; the isle of Capri and the curving Campanian 
coast, bright beneath the blue sky of early spring ; the ex- 
pectant throng on the pier, drawn together by the sight of 
the unfurled topsail, which Seneca says was the honorable 
distinction of the grain-ships from Egypt that brought 
food to imperial granaries ; the landing of the military 
and their manacled prisoner ; their delay of a week by .the 
courtesy of Julius, and the eager colloquy with the Jews ; 
the walk along the " Consular Way," of which Horace 
speaks, and relics of which are seen to-day in fragments of 
pavements and milestones ; the Appian Way, the queen of 
roads, with its motley throng of people on foot and in car- 
riages, and the objects of engaging interests to one of 
scholary tastes, like the Apostle, pointed out by the 
brethren with him, who was not ashamed of his chain — 
tliese and other reminiscences make the city which we are 
about to enter one of the most attractive of any in Italy. 

Emerging from the stately railway station. Dr. S., a New 
York surgeon, took me to Hotel Beaurivage, some three 
miles awa}^ in the upper quarters of the city, beyond the 
Castle St. Elmo. Our direct course was b}^ the famous 
Toledo, the oft-described avenue which is perhaps the noisiest, 
most bustling and, most bewildci-ing in Europe. No play 
before the theatric scenes can compare with the exciting, 
amusing, disgusting, delightful, ever-changing phantasma- 



ITALY. 1G5 

goria of this great tliorouglifare. Here is a city of half a 
million, whose temperature is such as allows one to live out- 
doors most of the year. 

NEAPOLITAN STREET LIFE. 

For pleasure and for toil the open air is sought. The 
various craftsmen at work add picturesqueness to the view 
as you ride along ; the tailor, preparing garments ; the cob- 
bler, hammering a shoe ; the joiner, pushing his plane ; the 
juggler, playing his tricks ; the scribe, insensible of the 
jargon, taking down the messages directed to the unlet- 
tered ; the poulterer plucking his fowls ; the cook making 
ready his macaroni ; the scullion scouring his pans ; the 
barber lathering dusky faces ; the buffoon, the soldier, the 
mattress-maker, and the vegetable-vender ; the dirty monk 
and crippled beggar crying for alms ; the story-teller, recit- 
ing, for a few centimes, tales of war or songs of love ; the 
traveling Esculapius shouting his drugs, and the stooping 
crone mumbling aloud the hymn or prayer as an appointed 
penance. Then there are the screaming, swearing mule- 
teers and cartmen beating their donkey with unmerciful 
stripes as they try to draw the heavy, overloaded carts up 
the high hill. The society with a long name would have 
business enough here to employ a thousand agents. 

Then the pedestrians who, in absence of sidewalks in 
many places, take the streets ; men, women, and children 
of all sorts and conditions ; some well dressed or uniformed, 
but oftener those of tawny skin and greasy smell; the 
younger of both sexes, with scant attire and with as little 
modesty, attending to the needs of nature in quite con- 
spicuous places ; naked babes in motherly arms ; laborers 
with little^more on than a simple covering about the loins 
such as bathers wear ; fruit venders and lemonade carriers 
dodging in and out between the vehicles and yelling all the 
while ; army officers with clanking spurs and shining scab- 
bards ; navy captains in blue and gold ; sailors and news- 
boys, priests and friars ; gendarmes, cattle drivers, and 



166 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

charcoal sellers — these are some of the 50,000 which, it is 
said, may at any hour of the day be found on the Toledo or 
along the grand Piazza, in a babbling, yelling, crushing, 
confusing crowd, with 1500 different vehicles besides, to 
say nothing of those on horseback. The " bright ej^es, 
raven tresses, and musical voice of the Neapolitans," of which 
some glowing writers speak, are absent'from the picture. 

The patois spoken is abominable. Pure Italian would be 
unintelligible to the lowest class. The poetry of the scene 
you expected is lost in the prosy facts about you ; " in 
bright-eyed daughters of Italy who do riot know their own 
mother-tongue ; in the streets where flowers and filth, fruit 
and folly are seen in delightful kindred, and where one-third 
of the people we meet remind us of the plague in pantaloons 
and the small-pox in the unwashed chemise of the maiden ; 
in palaces, at the doors of which sit in filth and wretched- 
ness, raking out the matted and tangled hair which grows 
on the senseless pates of each other, and in the nightly 
assassinations and daily debauches. Poets may portray 
Naples as one of the outposts of Paradise itself, but to me 
(says Dr. Eddy) it will be associated with a fallen, de- 
graded, dishonored, enslaved and besotted people." 

SOCIAL DEGRADATION. 

He adds one picture which I did not notice — the perform- 
ance of monks before a wayside shrine. A rude cross 
held an effigy of the Redeemer. One of the monks de- 
claimed vehemently, and two, with whining voices, passed 
among the crowd gathering money. The driver uncovered 
as he passed by, but confessed that he had no faith in the 
ceremony to which he had been taught, as a devout Cath- 
olic, to pay homage. An intelligent Roman told me the 
same. The great danger nov/ lies in the direction of infi- 
delity ; the natural swing from the degrading social servi- 
tude under which these priest-ridden people have been so 
long groaning. Now that railroads, telegraj^hs and political 
revolutions have scattered much of the superstitions of the 



ITALY. • 167 

past, unless the Gospel is received, scepticism is the sure 
result. 

In Naples, as in Cuba and elsewhere, you see the alter- 
nate worship and whipping of their gods, as in the chastise- 
ment of Januarius, the patron saint of Naples, because the 
idol did not stay the eruption of Vesuvius. The bottled 
blood of the martyr is one of the peep-shows that please 
people who are still in their intellectual infancy. It lias 
sometimes happened that the trick is unsuccessful. On one 
occasion the blood refused to liquefy. A mob was the re- 
sult. The military was ordered out, and the officer in com- 
mand told the ecclesiastical juggler that if he didn't at 
once go into " liquidation " or liquefaction business he 
would lose his head in ten minutes ! The miracle (?) was 
at once performed ; the sword dissolved the saint ? 

But here we are at our hotel, far away from the surging, 
shouting crowds of the lower quarters of Naples ; high 
Tip above the sounds and smells through which we passed 
without harm. One guide-book, referring to these offen- 
sive odors, soberly advises the reader to take a drink of 
brandy every time his olfactories are offended ! One would 
need to carry a cask of liquor on his shoulders to run his 
factories with. Better run them with water. 

We are welcomed to quiet, elegant quarters by an En- 
glish lady, who is manager of this palace hotel. Rooms, 
with piano, balcony, and other felicitous adjuncts, are 
opened to us, fronting on the bay, commanding a maritime 
view probably unequaled in the world. It is in the hour 
before sunset, balmy and still. Like " the sea of glass min- 
gled with fire " seen in prophetic vision, the Bay of Naples 
at our feet shimmers beneath the lustrous light of a, 
cloudless Italian sky. The rosy and purple tints clothe the 
sombre slopes of Vesuvius with a veil of beauty as fair as 
when Tasso, born under its shadows, used to look up into 
these same summer skies. Sorrento, Castelmare, Portici, 
and other villages along the coast, are embowered in gar- 
dens, groves, and vineyards where the ripening grape, the 



168 OVT-DOOn LIFE IN EUROPE, 

oleandei'j the citron, and fig are found. Seaward, the blue 
Mediterranean glows as the sun hastens to hide behind the 
isle of Ischia, lighting up again its ancient volcano, as it 
were, with crimson fires. This region seems not of earth. 
As Rogers asks^ 

" Was it not dropt from heaven ? Not a grove 
But breathes enchantment ! Not a cliff but flings 
On the clear wave some image of delight — 
From daylrreak to that hour, the last and best. 
When, one by one, the fishing-boats come forth. 
Each with its glimmering lantern at the prow, 
And, when the nets are thrown, the evening hymn 
Steals over the trembling waters. " 

Izaak Walton did well to ask, " If God gives such beauty 
for us sinful creatures here on earth, what must he not have 
prepared for his saints in heaven ! " 

A long ride, however, and an hour's delay in getting sup- 
per, had whetted our appetite for meaner things. This in- 
terruption was temporary, and the mellow air drew us out 
again. The stars once more looked down into the quiet 
bay. The flashing lights along the shore twinkled in the 
dark waters. The din of Naples was only a distant murmur, 
varied now and then by toll of bell or waft of music from 
the band in the gardens below. But the central object, 
which made us forget everything else, was the lurid flame 
of the famous volcano, not discernible by the day, but flar- 
ing up now with ominous look every few seconds. It was 
the first sight of the kind we had seen. It had a strange 
fascination. It was grand, awful, sublime, magnificent, etc. 
We used up all the adjectives we could think of — one must 
be excused for occasional redundance, especially in describ- 
ing an object like this volcano, which itself occasionally 
" slops over " — and then we telegraphed to an American 
friend in Rome to come down the next day without fail to 
see Vesuvius. He did not care to see this " old inveterate 
smoker" enough to take the fatiguing trip, and so he went 
back to New York without even the smell of its fire in his 



ITALY. IGO 

garments. Now that a railway is finished to the summit, 
one can visit the mountain with more satisfaction than 
formerly. 

During your stay in Naples, tlie Museum, of course, 
will be visited. It is an excellent preparative for a visit to 
Pompeii, for it presents, as Hillard lias observed, an epit- 
ome of the daily domestic life of a Roman 1800 years ago, 
so that you can follow the hours of the day in their duties 
and amusements ; can recline with the nobleman at his 
meals, criticise his furniture, his dishes of food ; can enter 
his wife's dressing-room, see her jewels, mirrors and rouge ; 
can look into the kitclien and see the charcoal in the 
brazier, the water in the urn, and the simmering juices in 
the saucejfan. You can, he says, accompany a student to 
his library, the surgeon to his patients, the artisan to his 
shop, the farmer to the field, the citizen to the theatre, 
or the gambler to his den. Here were loaded dice, which 
show that money was gained then, as now, by fraud ; 
tickets of admission to games ; and, most interesting of 
all, various fruits, and loaves of wheat bread baked 
eighteen centuries ago. They appeared to be well done — 
in fact, a little stale. The stamp of the baker was clear. 
It. indicated which loaf was made of wheat and which of 
bean flour. The average weight of each is a pound. 
Like the Sicilian loaves to-day, they are round, de- 
pressed in the middle, raised on the edge, and divided into 
sections. The olives are soft and pungent to the taste, and 
so perfectly preserved by the air-tight encrustations that 
you might imagine them recently gathered. 

The garments of the dead were charred, and some 
nearly reduced to ashes, while sandals and other articles 
were only blackened. The process of restoring burnt MS. 
and the work of translating the inscriptions interested us 
much. An Italian attache showed us ii.to another room, 
in which we made a short stay. He could not speak En- 
glish, but the lamps, ornaments and frescoes spoke of the 
loathsome private life of many of the Pompeiians. It is a 



170 OTJT-DOOn LIFE IN EUROPE. 

shame even to speak of the things done of them in secret. 
The room is closed to women. The words over the door 
explain the reason : Occetti Osceni — " Obscene Ob- 
jects." 

For a franc you can buy a railway ticket to the resus- 
ciated city, a dozen miles from Naples. Two more francs 
admit you and furnish you with a guide. He wears thin 
clothes, a military cap, and sword. He is not allowed to 
receive any fees ; but watch him. Towards the end of the 
hour's tramp, he will ask you, with a half -whisper, in 
broken English, if you have tobacco about you, and remind 
you that he is not allowed to have any cash gratuity. Dr. 
S. and myself gave him a piece — that is, a piece of our 
mind as to tobacco — also sundry centimes. A hanger-on, 
perhaps an unoccupied workman, darted suddenly from out 
an angle of a ruined temple and handed us each a bunch of 
maiden-hair, a much esteemed fern. He was silent and 
grinning, and made emphatic gestures to indicate that it 
was a gift, a pure act of unselfish benevolence on his part, 
and that any idea of reward had never entered his head. 
But as soon as he retreated again to his hiding-place, out 
of sight of the officer, the old rogue thrust out one hand 
for money most earnestly, and played a vigorous panto- 
mime with the other hand and with his facial muscles, 
which told us plainer than words could speak, that he was 
watched by the other fellow, and that he did want some of 
our loose coin, ever so much. He got some, too. Who 
can blame them ? They live on macaroni and strangers. 

THE CITY OF THE DEAD. 

We were first shown into a mortuary museum : a somber 
prelude to the scenes which were to follow. Nothing 
more thrillingly impressive could be conceived than these 
rows of j^etrified bodies of man, bird and beast, exhumed 
after eighteen centuries, and still exhibiting the marks of 
the pain and horror which attended their living entomb- 
ment. The swooning fugitives fell one by one, sometimes 



ITALY. 171 

locked in each other's embrace, and sometimes huddled 
together. Seventeen bodies in a standing posture, were 
found in the wine-cellar of Dionicd. A mother and three 
children sunk together beneath the sulphurous showers ; 
a young man and maid, near the baths, clasped each 
other's arms ; a woman clutching her bag of gold, and the 
soldier clutching his spear. You will see here a giant 
fi-ame, the limbs straight as if calmly placed, the sandals 
laced and the nails in the soles distinct ; the iron ring on 
the finger, the mustache clinging to his lip, and the aspect 
of the whole that of resoluteness and courage. 

Here is a girl, not over fifteen, who fell in running. She 
had covered her face, and the bent fingers show that she 
held fast the tunic or veil. Her arms are bare and the 
short sleeves are rent. The stitches on her dress, the 
smooth flesh, and the delicate embroidery of her shoes are 
clearly seen. There is another figure, representing what 
was once a Pompeiian lady of wealth, as shown by the 
delicate hands and silver rings ; the kej^s, jewels, costly 
urns, and ninety-one pieces of coin found under her body. 
The texture of her clothes and her head-dress are distinct. 
Hers was a death of anguish and continued agony, as indi- 
cated by tlie swollen and convulsed body. Another had 
127 silver coins and 69 of gold, and fell near the Hercu- 
laneum Gate. The priest of Isis had cut through two 
walls, and fell, suffocating, at the foot of the third, grasp- 
ing his axe. The prisoners in the barrack, riveted to an 
iron rack ; the mule in the bakery ; the horses shut up in 
the tavern of Albinus ; the goat with the bell tied to its 
neck ; a dove in a garden niche, refusing to leave her nest ; 
a dog with head extended, as if uttering his last, smothered 
moan, the ivory point of a tooth shining clean and bright — 
these all tell of the sudden, pitiless, overpowering calamity 
as no pen is able to do. 

Photograph and engraving have made Pompeii a familiar 
object. One afternoon ramble need not be described in 
detail. More than half of this city had been opened in 1879 



172 OUT-DOOR LIFE dN EUllOPE. 

and less than '700 bodies of the 2000 who perished have 
been found. Its population at the time of its destruction, 
August 24, A.D. 79, was 30,000. The hrst explorations were 
made by Charles III. of Naples, in 1748, but not till 1860 
did work begin in earnest. The eruption of 79 changed 
the physical configuration of the district, diverting tlie 
course of the river Sarno and pushing back the sea, wdiicli 
once washed its w^alls, as some believe. The region is 
volcanic, and a few years before its final overthrow an earth- 
quake had destroyed many public and private buildings of 
Pompeii. 

Pliny the younger was stationed at Misenum at the time 
of the final overthrow. He describes the horror of the 
hour; the black smoke that suddenly burst from Vesuvius 
and spread over the cloudless sky like the shade of a mighty 
tree till all was dark; the shrieks of men, women, and chil- 
dren seeking each other, but knowing each other only by 
their cries; invocation to the gods; the falling of the ashes 
like a funeral pall, the fringes of which touched Africa on 
the south and Rome on the north, leading the people there 
to say, "The world is overturned"; the appearance of the 
stars, and finally the sun, pallid as if in an eclipse. The 
stifling ashes were follow*ed by showers of hot stones and 
torrents of black mud, wdiich formed an encasing cement 
which sealed up till now the secrets and treasures of this 
gay and godless city. The tell-tale inscriptions are a ver3^ 
instructive study. School-boys scribbled on the wall as 
now; lovers jotted here and there an amorous sentence; 
wits Avrote their jokes and scholars their epigrams; wine- 
bibbers and tennis players, cynic and sceptic, trader and 
slave have all left their contributions to the record of the 
social life of their day. The tavern keeper at the sign of 
the Elephant tells you that he has recently fitted up his 
house with " a triclinium, three beds, and every con- 
venience "; an artist invokes the wrath of Venus on any 
ruthless hand that dare deface his outdoor painting on the 
w^all of a shop; the loser of a jar promises a reward for its 



ITALY. 173 

return, and double the amount for the thief himself ; a 
candidate for sedile begs a vote, with the avowal that he 
may some day make an office for his friend; and on street 
corners the city fathers have left notifications which com- 
mand that no one commit nuisance. 

Eight gates opened into the town. The narrow streets, 
from ten to fifteen feet wide, are paved with blocks of lava 
stone and worn by ox team. Fording blocks seem to indicate 
that the water ran deep on rainy days. Suspended over- 
head were balconies, from which a basket could be let down 
for food or fruits brought along the street, and at which 
the Pompeian girl stood as she " culled the kiss " from her 
lips, as was the ancient custom, and threw it to her lover 
as he passed. 

Entering one of the roofless dwellings you see the warn- 
ing, Caa^e Canem, or read under your feet the welcome. 
Salve. Lifting your right foot first — for to enter with 
the left foremost was ominous to a Roman — you pass the 
entry way, where a slave was sometimes chained, into the 
atrium, in the centre of which is the impluvium or pool of 
water. To the right and left are cubicula, tiny cells for 
sleepers, about as large as a state-room on a steamer, with 
an elevation of solid masonry instead of a bedstead. On 
these skins or mattresses were laid. The number and size 
of apartments varied according to the wealth of the 
owner ; so also did the frescoes, decorations and furni- 
ture. 

Tlie dresses and toilets of the ladies were very elaborate. 
The love of baubles was excessive. Not only did they bore 
their flesh for them, as other pagan nations do, but loaded 
every finger with trinkets ; legs, arms, and shoulders as well. 
Their slaves pared their nails and applied perfumes and 
pigments ; dressed them in their loose rich robes which, 
with matrons, came to the feet, but with simple citizens' 
wives and daughters came scarcely down to their knees, so 
as to leave exposed the ornaments referred to. A Roman 
sometimes bathed seven times a day. The remains of the 



174 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

thermae, the hypocaust, the reservoir, and even some of 
rosin with which the fires were kindled under the boilers, 
are very suggestive. The daily avocations are also traced 
with startling vividness. Here you see the yellow stain 
with the amphora made on the liquor dealer's pavement, or 
which the goblet 'left on the marble counter, the drink 
being very strong. You will find the druggist's pills and 
liquids ; the medicine chest with a groove for the spatula, 
the forceps to hold an artery and the probe to open a wound; 
scalpels, hooks, needles and cupping-glasses — fully three 
hundred articles in the surgical line. 

In the color merchant's shop were discovered the mineral 
and vegetable substances which were used in their rare 
paintings ; in the barber's the unguents and soaps just as 
they were left on that fateful August morning ; in the mill 
the huge stones turned by beast and sometimes by slaves, 
whose eyes had been put out as were Samson's ; in the 
bakery the troughs where the dough was worked, the 
arched oven, the ash-hole, and the vase which held the 
water which was sprinkled on the crust and made it glisten 
as does the baker's bread you eat in Italy to-day. The 
dyer's shop and the fuller's ; the grocery and the perfum- 
ery establishment ; the places of amusement and of wor- 
ship are full of attractiveness, not only to the archaeologist, 
but to the tourist. The rampart surrounding the amphi- 
theatre where gladiatorial shows were held is pierced witli 
holes. In them were once fixed an iron grating to guard 
against the bounds of the panthers. The ditch about this 
low wall was filled with water to intimidate the elephants, 
who were thought to fear this element. 

The study of the inscriptions is better understood now 
than once, and some errors have been coiTccted. Marc 
Monnier says that a carved head was found with an inscrip- 
tion that was first thought to be Isis propJieta, and so 
proved the worship of the Egyptian Isis, whereas tlie motto 
was Idem prohavit. The two were about as unlike as the 
telegram that once reached London from Ernst Renan. 



ITALY. 175 

He was to lecture on " The Influence of Rome on the For- 
mation of Christianity," but it was published " The Influ- 
ence of Rum on the Digestion of HuMAisriTY ! " 

The sun beat down with torrid heat as we went from 
temple to bath, and from shop to dwelling, but there Avas 
pure, sweet water at hand, of which I took copious draughts, 
and a breeze from the sea occasion ly brought to us a deli- 
cious coolness. I rested awhile in the shade, as in the 
house of Lucretius, until my watchful medical asso- 
ciate would warn me of the danger of cooling too 
suddenly. The house of " the strange woman " was 
among the last visited, of which decency forbids de- 
scription. 

That night as I looked at midnight from the balcony of 
my hotel, at Naples, across the bay and saw the lurid glare 
of that devouring flame, trembling, palpitating in the dark- 
ness, I seemed to hear the old warning which men are so 
slow to heed, " Your sin will find you out ! " These cities 
of the plain gave themselves over to uncleanness and 
strange flesh, and were " set forth for an example, suffering 
the vengeance of eternal fire." Religion, art, and morals 
were thoroughly corrupt. The practical lesson which the 
English-speaking race have to learn is this, that refinement 
of manners, aesthetic culture, and wealth of intellectual life 
can never atone for moral impurity ; and that unless the 
progress of corruption be stayed, which is now going on, fed 
by vile literature, lewd pictures, unchaste attire, and in- 
decent theatric displays, the same indignation of God. will 
burn against us. May all who have any influence in mold- 
ing the character of the nineteenth century never forget 
this lesson of the first century. 

FLORENCE. 

This is the city of fair flowers, and the flower of fair 
cities. Its charms of scenery are conspicuous. Few 
places in Italy present a vision equal in beauty to that 
which is spread out before the eye of one standing on the 



1V6 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

terraces of San Miniate, or is seen from the Boboli Gardens, 
or from the heights from ancient Fiesole. 

" Girt by her theatre of hills she reaps 
Her corn and wine and oil, and Plenty leaps 
To laughing life, with her redundant horn. 
Along the banks where smiling Arno sleeps. 
Was modern luxury of Commerce born, 
And buried Learning rose redeemed to a new mom." 

The lofty Apennines look down on the rich, verdant 
plain through wliich tlie winding river flows to the sea, and 
picturesque hillsides, crowned with villas, vineyards and 
mulberry groves form an exquisite framework for the city, 
which stands in solemn beauty below. The broad dome of 
its cathedral ; the graceful campanile of Giotto, " the mir- 
ror and model of perfect architecture," as Ruskin says ; 
the " Westminster Abbey " of Santa Croce ; the lofty tower 
of the ancient palace, rising in stern and stolid strength 
over a square wliich is full of tragic memories ; the churches 
and convents, the gardens and porticos along the slender 
Arno, and the bridges, new and old, form a picture of most 
enticing loveliness. 

But as a leader in modern art and science and religious 
activity, Florence has still higher claims. The " Athens 
of Ital}"," the home of Dante, Galileo, Da Vinci, Raphael, 
and Brunellesco, to-day, as of old, attracts scholars, sculp- 
tors, artists and poets. The scene of Savonarola's toils and 
triumphs is the centre of evangelical reform, the seat of the 
Waldensian College, the Claudian Press, and many other 
important auxiliaries of Christian knowlege. The popula- 
tion of the city is not far from 170,000. Its history is the 
history of Tuscany, of the Medici, of the Guelphs and 
Ghibellines, and of the barbarian invasions of earlj^ centu- 
ries. Its somber architecture recalls the days of civil strife, 
when social factions foiight with pugnacious pride and bit- 
ter rivalry. Then was it necessary that a noble's palace 
should be a fortress. Their rugged massiveness speak of 
feudal defence rather than of modern luxury. Even the 



ITALY. Ill 

ornate churches wear an unfinished look, and lack unity of 
architectural plan. 

Florentius, a celebrated general, gave name to the town, 
according to Cellini, while others say that the abundance 
of lilies and other flowers suggested it. But one side of the 
river was at first occupied, and onl}'- one bridge crossed the 
Arno. There are now six bridges, nine gates, and twenty- 
three squares. The most interesting of these piazzas is 
that on which the Palazzo Vecchio fronts. This is the 
business center and the spot where Savonarola and two 
other martyrs were burned in 1498. To this spot my steps 
turned immediately after I had left my satchel at Hotel 
L'Europe. " Romola " was fresh in memory, and the por- 
trait of the reformer. 

" It was the fashion of old, when an ox was led for sacri- 
fice to Jupiter, to chalk the dark spots, and give the offering 
a false show of unblemished whiteness. Let us fling away 
the chalk, and boldly say that the victim was spotted, but 
it was not, therefore, in vain that his mighty heart was laid 
on the altar of men's highest hopes." The sermons of the 
noble friar were full of fire and passion, yet solemn and 
pathetic. They held as by a spell the high-born and titled, 
as well as the rude and the humble. He knew that his 
end was near. The last words with which he closed his 
eight years' preaching in Florence were these : " When 
God has no longer need of an instrument he casts it away." 
He prayed for the Florentines that they might see 
no wisdom but in God's law, no beauty but God's 
holiness, and that he himself might be made like 
unto his Lord. " Lay me on the altar ; let my blood 
flow, and the fire consume me, but let my witness be rem- 
embered among men, that iniquity shall not prosper for- 
ever." He knew that his life was but a vigil, and that only 
after death would come the dawn. He held up the sins of 
the Church and government with thrilling power, " dealing 
in no polite periphrases, but sending forth a voice that 
would be heard through all Christendom, and making the 



178 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

dead body of the Cliwrcli tremble into new life, as the body 
of Lazarus trembled when the Divine voice pierced the 
sepulchre." To degrade him in the eyes of the peoj^le he 
was put to the torture. Under it his delicate nervous 
system yielded, and he recanted. But these incoherent 
answers, wrung out of him in a delirium of pain, were re- 
called with returning breath. After a month he was again 
tortured, but nothing could be gained. His execution, 
however, was fixed. 

On the morning of May 23 he and his . associates, 
unfrocked and degraded, w^ere marched to the stake. Sal- 
vestro wished to speak to the crowd, but Savonarola en- 
joined silence in memory of the Saviour, who on the cross 
spoke no words of self -vindication. When the papal com- 
missioner excommunicated him from " the Church militant 
and triumphant," he calmly said: " From the Church mili- 
tant, not from the Church triumphant; that is beyond your 
power." We are told that""a strong wind that morning 
blew across the city, and for a while the flames were beaten 
back. The right hand of the sainted martyr, unconsumed, 
was seen moving in the fire, blessing the city that sought 
his blood. His remains were thrown into the Arno, but 
noble Florentine ladies secured relics that were long kept 
as sacred heirlooms. Year after year the place was strewn 
with flowers on each recurring anniversary'', and medals 
stamped with his face and name were circulated, bearing 
the inscrij^tion, " Doctor and martyr, apostle and prophet 
of God." Thirty years after, when the republic was free 
from the Medici, his sermons were publicly repeated, and 
his hymns again were sung in the streets. So, too, after 
three hundred years' thrall, his name again became a power 
in the revival of Florentine liberty. An ancient picture of 
the martyrdom, painted by Fra Bartolomeo, hangs in the 
cell where Savonarola studied at the convent of San 
Marco, and I was glad to purchase a j^hotographic copy of 
this original. Raphael painted him among the worthies 
in the very halls of the Vatican, and Pope Alexander Y\. 



ITALY. 179 

declared his writings to be free from all blame. Better 
than all, Martin Luther, who was fourteen years old when 
Savonarola was murdered, was raised up to carry on the 
work of reformation. This illustrious champion of the truth 
wielded still wider sway over men, " till the nations paused 
to hear, and listening centuries clasped hands around his 
pulpit.'' Thus the blood of martyrs again proved to be 
the seed of the Church. 

Neptune's fountain on this spot now pours clear water 
from tritons and sea-horses. Michael Angelo used to sit 
near it in his old age and contemplate his colossal " David," 
now in the Academy. This is a much-admired and much- 
studied statue. Many of the criticisms of this great work 
since the sculptor's death are as fanciful as those at the 
time of its chiseling. One day, in apparent obedience to 
the suggestion of a fault-finder, Angelo climbed the ladder 
and pretended to make an alteration, dropping the while 
marble dust or chips, which he had stealthily carried up 
with him. He descended, without having made the 
slightest change, to receive the enthusiastic commendation 
of his pleased but ignorant townsman, whom he had so 
cleverly duped. 

The " god-like Perseus, with brow and sword, superblj^ 
calm," as Mrs. Browning describes it, stands in the open 
gallery under the shadow of the tower, 330 feet high, which 
rises from the palace. Dungeons within this prison and 
fortress were occupied by Savonarola and others of whom 
the world was not worthy. There was an opening through 
the high tower communicating with a Avell below, through 
which the doomed were dropped to darkness and to death. 

This square, which so often echoed to the shock of arms 
and the turbulent shouts of mobs, now is filled with the 
hum of busy and peaceful industry. The same ceaseless 
chatter runs on like a mill when the Arno is full, whether 
there be grist or not, so thatj^ou may put tow in your ears, 
as Piero the painter did, as a sign of contempt. Tessa the 
sweet milk-maid, or her duplicate, is still seenj Bratti the 



180 OUT-BOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

trader and Tito the Greek; Bardo tlie toilful scholar, " a 
learned porcupine bristling all over with critical tests, to 
whom an error or indistinctness in the text is more painful 
than sudden darkness or obstacle across his path, and now 
and then some fair Romola, Avith flute-like voices, " dulcis, 
durabilis, clara, pura, secans sera et auribus sedens," The 
priest in black gown, the beggar in rags, the sleek waiter 
in white cravat at the cafe door, the flower-girl, the fruit- 
seller, and the street-singer mingle in the cheerful, busy 
crowds that throng this and neighboring localities in the 
heart of the cit}^ 

A burial at night was one of the novelties of out-door 
life that attracted my attention. Members of a confra- 
ternity took charge of the funeral. Their hideous garb 
looked like that of a Ku-Klux gang. The lurid glare of 
torches in the darkness, and the monotonous chant that 
was sung, added to the repulsiveness of the ceremony. 
The rude crowds gathered along the ways to gaze with 
curiosity as the noisy performers passed. The night before 
I was aroused from sleep by the yelling of a similar band 
who were hastening to a church, I was told, to go through 
certain performances for some one who was sick. What a 
pity that they had not heard of the portable " Extract of 
prayer," advertised by the worshipers of the Sacred Heart 
at Nimes. This extract is enclosed in a scapular, which is 
simply pressed to the breast, and thus the prayer is said. 
" It costs but one franc, and is suitable for persons who 
have not much time to pray." This mummery is as sensi*- 
ble as that of the Parisian who limited his praying to New 
Year's day, when he recited a prayer three hours long, 
and then on each morning through the year simply said 
" Ditto." 

There is much of superstition and priestcraft yet re- 
maining here, but Italy is surely advancing. Seven 
Protestant denominations, with scores of schools, are 
planted in Rome alone, and their motto is, " Here we are, 
and here we shall stay ! " The States of the Church hav© 



ITALY. 181 

passed from the map of tlie world for the first time for a 
hundred years, and when, on the morning of September 
20, 18V0, the cannon of Emanuel rolled up to the Quirinal 
Palace, heavier ordnance moved along with it, the artillery 
of another Immanuel, even a load of Bibles, Italy's hope 
of redemption ! That humble dog-cart, loaded by colpor- 
teurs with the word of God, moving through Portia Pia 
between 50,000 bristling bayonets of Sardinian troops, had 
a more thrilling significance^that all the pomp and circum- 
stance of war. So, too, a little later, there occurred 
another incident, unknown to the world, but which marked 
an epoch in the world's advancement. It was midnight. 
A Waldensian printer was in his oftice. He had deter- 
mined to print the Italian Scriptures in Rome, not in some 
secure corner either, but under the very ejQ of him whose 
bubble of infallibility had so suddenly burst. The forms 
were ready for the press at twelve o'clock. A friend of 
mine — an American clergyman from whom I have this 
incident — knew what was to be done that night, and could 
not sleep for excitement. He called a carriage, and with a 
daughter, also a pioneer missionary, rode to the office just 
at the moment. Each in turn grasped the wheel, and, 
with emotions of gratitude to God which they could not 
describe, helped to print the first sheets of the first Bible, 
the unbound word of God, which is, as Chevalier Bunsen 
says, "the only basis of civil and religious liberty, the only 
real cement of nations." 

" The whole hope of human progress," adds the lamented 
Secretary Seward, "is suspended on the ever-growing in- 
fluence of the Bible." The Saints of Italy salute us. Pope 
and Pagan need no longer terrify. One has been dead 
many a day, and the other has grown stiff in his joints and 
can do little more than now " sit in his cave's mouth grin- 
ning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting his nails be- 
cause he cannot come at them." The imprisonment and 
sufferings of Rosa and Francesco Madiai for Bible-reading, 
and hundreds of others in Florence in 1853, aroused the in- 



182 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

digiiation of the world. The English and American gov- 
ernments expressed their feelings to the Grand Duke of 
Tuscany, but to the French Government did the captives 
finally owe their liberation, thanks to the " Yorkshire good 
sense of Mr. Ward, the most confidential agent of his 
government, who suggested that the concession should be 
made to France," to save the loss of dignity involved in 
yielding merely to Lord Russell's menaces and other serious 
threats."* The reluctance with which the Duke yielded, 
and the way in which he thrust them out of his domain, 
reflected no honor on him. To avoid publicity they were 
taken away with the prison garb on, hurried on bosrd a 
Leghorn steamer, shipped to Marsailles under a false name, 
and no notice was given the British minister at Florence. 
The telegraph, however, told the world of it in a few 
hours, and the enemies of religious freedom learned a 
lesson that has never been forgotten. Joseph, the Aus- 
trian Emperor, remembered it and dared not turn a deaf 
ear to the respectful but emphatic protest of the Basle Alli- 
ance. He saw that the papal power could not, in Bohemian 
fastnesses, hound to death the children of John Huss with- 
out insulting the civilization of the age. 

To-day the Waldensians, " the front line of heroes, with 
the scars of thirty persecutions on them," number in Italy 
88 churches and mission stations, 15,000 communicants, 
4400 in Sunday Schools. Add a half a dozen other de- 
nominations, and we have a large and effective force. 
Besides these there are other agencies like the Gould 
Memorial School, sustained by American and British 
Christians, which are beacon lights of truth and liberty. 
In connection with these events one will visit the large 
hall in Florence with interest, where Victor Eman- 
uel opened his first Parliament. The former home of 
Mrs. E. B. Browning at Casa Guidi and the graves of 



* Letter of British Chaplain, ♦•Evangelical Christendom," vol 
yii., p, 153, 



ITALY. 183 

Trollope, Landor and Theodore Parker are not without 
interest. 

The Cascine, or public park, by the shore of the Arno is 
a kind of social exchange, where foreigners meet and 
flower-girls gather with their fragrant merchandise. You 
see the carriages of English lords, Russian nobles, and 
French princes jostling each other. Others are on horse- 
back, titled or unknown. Then there are multitudes, just 
as good, who prefer to saunter along on foot to enjoy the 
pleasant shade, the sunset hues of the river, and the distant 
openings. 

Still more beautiful on a sultry day is the quiet retreat 
of the Boboli Gardens, with its gay parterres of flowers, 
its undulating avenues and pine, its waterfalls, lakes, and 
grottos, with many quaint and colossal statues, single and 
in groups, carved by Angelo and others. This spot is said 
to be the favorite resort of English children whose nurses 
have made it a sort of " infant exchange, from the baby of 
two summers to the little damsel of ten or twelve, already 
beginning to draw herself up and look dignified. Their 
animated movements and happy voices give life and music 
to a scene worthy of a pencil of Correggio. The whole 
fashion of the place speaks of the luxury of shade, and of 
defences against an intrusive sun ; high verdurous walls to 
refresh the eye, dazzled with the fervors of summer's noon ; 
sun-proof roofs of foliage, woven when the freshness and 
coolness of the morning long lingers and slowly retires. 
In these very gardens Milton may have had suggested to 
him his image of the Indian herdsman 

" ' That tends his pasturing herds 
At loop-holes cut through thickest shade.' " 

No wonder that the Florentine calls his home FArenze l<x, 
hella. 

Of indoor sights in Florence no detailed description can 
be given. On Sunday I visited Santa Croce, within whose 
precincts lie the remains of Angelo, Alfieri, Galileo, 



184 OVT-DOOn LIFE IN EUFiOPE, 

Machiavelli and other illustrious dead. I saw a service in 
which a little boy received the sacrament alone, other 
smaller children with their mothers kneeling on the altar 
steps behind them. An aged female beggar received my 
last coin, for her sad face and friendless aspect moved my 
sympathies as common mendicants rarely do. I also 
passed the church of San Lorenzo, said to have been reared 
in 393 by a pious mother as a thank-offering for a son 
born to her, whom she named Lorenzo. Standing at the 
bronze tablet which marks the spot where Dante used to 
sit to gaze upon Brunelleschi's dome and Giotto's tower, I 
gazed, at the twilight hour, upon what Longfellow has well 

called 

" A vision, a delight, and a desire, 
The builder's perfect and perennial flower." 

This campanile is 275 feet high, and combines character- 
istics of power and beauty, according to Ruskin, as no 
other edifice in the world ; a " bright, smooth, sunny sur- 
face of glowing jasper ; spiral shafts and fair traceries, so 
white, so faint, so crystalline, that their slight shapes are 
hardly traced in darkness on the pallor of the eastern sky ; 
a serene height of mountain alabaster, colored like a morn- 
ing cloud, and chased like a sea-shell. Is there not some- 
thing to be learned by looking back to the early life of 
him who raised it ? Not within the walls of Florence, but 
among the far-away fields of her lilies was the child 
trained who was to raise that headstone of Beauty above 
her towers of watch and war. The legend upon his crown 
was that of David's, * I took thee from the sheep cote and 
from following the sheep.' " 

Close by is the Baptistery with its three bronze doors, 
on two of which Ghiberti expended forty years of toil. 
Michael Angelo said that they were worthy to be the gates 
of Paradise. They represent scripture scenes and swing 
on porphyry columns which were a gift from Pisa in 1200. 
The Cathedral, opposite, abounds in historic associations. 
As you wander through the dusky aisles and read the 



ITALY. 185 

blurred inscriptions ; or look up into its double dome, tlie 
first reared in Europe, the specific gravity of every brick 
of which the architect, it is believed, ascertained before 
he laid it ; or stand at the altar where one of the Medici 
fell before the murderous blow of Pazzi, who sought to 
give liberty to Florence ; or look on the banners borne to 
the Holy Land in the time of the Crusades ; or tliink of 
the burninof words of Savonarola that were once heard 
here by spell-bound congregations, you seem to be disen- 
gaged from the affairs of this present time, and living 
among the actors and the scenes of long passed centuries. 

Passing the old Bargello, once the residence of the 
Podesta, or chief magistrate of Florence, then a prison 
with trap-doors and instruments of torture, you recall the 
stories of ancient cruelty perpetrated there, such as walling 
into the masonry living captives. Headley tells of a skele- 
ton examined by him and by an English physician. It 
stood in the wall of a church an hour's ride out of the city. 
It had been there centuries, and was accidentally discovered 
while making alterations, yet suffered to remain undis- 
turbed, an object of dread, and, doubtless, a source of gain. 
The surgeon, though familiar with skeletons, was greatly 
affected by his scrutiny of the ghastly relic. The ragged 
masonry had been built from the feet upward while the 
man was alive. The bones of the toes are curled and con- 
tracted in the last agony of suffocation. The arms also 
indicate a painful effort as if for freedom, and the shoulders 
are elevated as when one gasps for breath. No coffin or 
grave-clothes were there, for it was a clear case of murder. 
The man must have been six feet high and had a powerful 
frame. He died hard. What a picture imagination paints 
of such a scene ! — the struggle before he was bound and 
placed in the jagged niche ; the hurried dash of mortar 
and ring of trowel on the settling stone ; the slow rising 
of the wall over the stiffening knees and beating breast 
and praying lips, till only the white forehead remained ; 
the last fragment fitted and the murderous deed complete I 



186 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

And all this in a Christian church dedicated to the beloved 
disciple ! 

In 1865 tlie Bargello was remodeled for a National 
Museum. The courtyard where once the scaffold, the 
wheel, the axe and halter were seen is now adorned with 
the arms of the Podestas. In this and other museums, 
libraries, galleries of pictures, the stranger may well linger 
for days and even weeks. Here are statues "that enchant 
the world," and paintings that are the perfection of art. 
You see also the telescopes and other instruments used by 
Galileo in his nightly study of the starry heavens, and his 
very finger in a bottle, the relic having been stolen from 
his tomb ; you hold the crutch and slippers of Michael 
Angelo and recall his last words on that wintry morning, 
when in 1563 he entered the heavenly world, almost 90 
years old : " In your passage through this life, never, never 
forget the sufferings of Jesus Christ "; you look on 
memorials of the appalling scenes of the plague described 
in the Decamerone of Boccaccio, till you fairly smell the 
charnel-house, the corpse and worm, and rush out into 
the bright sunshine and busy streets, asking with Long- 
fellow, " Can this gay city have ever been the city of the 
plague-, and this pure air laden with the j)estilence ? " 

A delightful visit may be made to the monastery about 
which Milton loved to wander, an ancient pile embowered 
in sombre groves of pine and oak, of chestnut and of beech, 
filled with ambrosial sweets, hence its name Val Ambrosia. 
The reference to it in " Paradise Lost " has made it im- 
mortal. 

" Which as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks 
In Vallombrosa, whose Etrurian shades 
High-arched embower." 

There, too, the author of the " Divina Commedia " de- 
lighted to rest, where 

** Mountains live in holy families, 
And the slow pine woods ever climb and climb 



ITALY. 187 

Half up their breasts ; just stagger as they seize 
Some gray cliff, drop back into it many a time, 
And struggle blindly down the precipice." 

Beckford confirms the accuracy of Milton's simile, for lie 
soys, " Showers of leaves blew full in our faces as we 
approached the convent," an incident, indeed, true of every 
forest the world over. But though there are many forests, 
there are few Miltons. The briefest reference by a great 
author is ofttimes quite sufficient to lift into conspicuous 
importance what would be otherwise commonplace. 

VENICE. 

Here we are in old, romantic Venice, the Queen of the 
Adriatic ! History, literature, art, and song have thrown 
a charm about this jeweled bride of the sea that makes 
her attractive even in her decay. That strange spell with 
which Venice holds the traveler is found in no other city 
on the globe. Once " the Autocrat of Commerce, the 
Mother of Republics, the oldest Child of Liberty," now she 
is a silent and forsaken town, more than one-quarter of 
whose population receive relief as paupers. Prof. J. S. 
Blackie writes: 

" City of palaces, Venice, once enthroned 
Secure, a queen 'mid fence of flashing waters, 
Whom East and West with rival homage owned 
A wealthy mother with fair trooping daughters. 
What art thou now ? Thy walls are gray and old : 
In thy lone hall the spider weaves his Avoof . 
A leprous crust creeps o'er thy house of gold. 
And the cold rain drips through the pictured roof. 
The frequent ringing of thy churchly bells 
Proclaims a faith but half -believed by few ; 
Thy palaces are trimmed into hotels, 
And traveling strangers, a vague-wondering crew, 
Noting thy stones, with guide-book in their hand. 
Leave half the wealth that lingers in the land." 

I alighted at evening from the railway carriage at the 
long lagoon bridge, and stepped into a gondola, The 



188 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

simjDle mention of the word "Victoria" was sufficient. 
The boat glided off noiselessly, with a steady, rhythmic 
throb that neither jarred nor tipped, but impelled it with a 
swift, measured movement wholly unique. The single im- 
pression that for the moment swallowed up all other 
thoughts was the solemn silence that brooded over every- 
thing. The stillness of Pompeii is one thing, but that of 
Venice is quite another. The absence of horses, of ve- 
hicles, of the sounds of busy streets and active industry ; 
and the dark, slimy water, which, as Charles Dickens 
somewhere says, stuffs its weeds and refuse into the chinks 
as if the marble walls, the stones, and bars had mouths to 
stop, conspired to awe, if not to depress. At Pompeii 
there was the quiet of a church-j^ard — simply that of a 
lonely, deserted place ; but here were the living, men who 
seemed to move stealthily with slippered feet. The hush 
and mystery of life and motion appeared to me to be in 
keeping with the remembered history of the place, full 
of secrecy and dark suspicion. I thought of the spies 
that four hundred years ago used to haunt every place, 
moving almost as invisible and omnipresent as the air, 
obedient to 

** A power that never slumbered, never pardoned ; 
All eye, all ear, nowhere and everywhere ; 
Entering the closet and the sanctuary, 
Most present when least thought of — nothing dropped 
In secret, when the heart was on the lips, 
Nothing in feverish sleep, but instantly 
Observed and judged. . . . Let one indulge 
A word, a thought against the laws of Venice, 
And in that hour he vanished from the earth ! '1 

An evening ramble through the busiest centers of the 
town did not wholly correct the first impressions, which 
were decidedly sombre. The cloudy sky and my weariness 
after a day's ride over the Apennines — 182 miles from 
Florence — had something to do with these feelings. A re- 
freshing sleep and a bright morning sunlight put a different 
look on things, 



ITALY. 189 

Dr. Loomis, in his " Central Europe," makes the popu- 
lation 130,000, dwelling on 117 islands, connected by 378 
bridges. A consular government was founded in 421 ; the 
ducal, 697 ; independence of Venice ceased in 1797 ; 
Austria held rule till 1866, when the city united with Italy. 
But within these bald outlines what a history is included, 
full of startling vicissitudes, of glory, and of shame ! It is 
a marvel and a contradiction. Commerce was wedded to 
nobility, liberty to despotism, refinement to barbaric 
cruelty. From the days of Gothic invasion down to the 
battles of Marengo and Solferino, this sea-girt city has 
floated " like the ark amid a thousand wrecks," enriched 
with spoils from many lands. For centuries a haught}'' 
ruler of the waters, noAv she is only rich in the memories 
of the past. 

A GONDOLA EXCURSION. 

A gondola excursion, of course, was first in order that 
beautiful morning, before the heat of the day became 
oppressive. These black barges are a study. Once they 
were gay and luxurious in appearance ; but the republic 
rebuked the pretentious display of the nobles, and clothed 
them all in sable, like so many hearses. They are nearly 
thirty feet long, lined with cloth or velvet, and furnished 
with pillows or morocco cushions. There is a movable 
cabin with windows, curtains, and mirrors. This is in the 
middle, and may easily be replaced by an awning. The 
prow rises high, like a swan's neck, to match the height of 
the cabin ; heavy, to balance the weight of the rower ; and 
is of sharp, shining steel, with threatening teeth and edge. 
The gondolier stands in the stern, skillfully sculling and 
steering by side row-locks. He often utters a sharji word 
of warning as he hails a boat or turns an angle. Scarfs, 
ribbons, plumes, and gay caps were once worn, but now are 
rarely seen. 

The boatmen I happened to meet were prosaic. Their 
dress was scant and pooi-, their figures unimposing. No 
gongs of Tasso and Ariosto were warbled by their lips 



190 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

along the echoing canals. JVIoney was in their thought 
rather than poetry and song, art or romance. Occasionally 
their silence was broken by a word or hybrid phrase, half 
English and half Italian, to indicate a localitj^ Perhaps 
you make out, " House of Desdemona, who married the 
Moor," and catch a glimpse of the high arched windows, 
lacework carvings, lofty escutcheon,^ or blossoming olean- 
der, beneath the trellis where once the fair daughter of 
Brabantio stood ; or you may catch the Avord ", Shylock," 
and see the window where Jessica escaped — ducats and 
daughter going in one fateful hour ; or jow may be pointed 
out the house where Byron spent days of dissipation, and 
think of the exquisite fourth canto of " Childe Harold." 

Be not troubled if you notice, arising from the green 
slime along the watery street, something more pungent 
than the rose and magnolia, heliotrope and jasmine in the 
Avindows ; for, with all the glamour of poetry about the city, 
there are some things that are thoroughly unrom antic. 
When compelled to yield to the request of his guest for 
an inside room, which did not take up the odors of the 
water, a good-natured German landlord replied, " Ja, ja, 
mein herr ; it is a goot canal enof ; 'tis only ven de tide is 
out she schmells ! " 

THE EIALTO AND THE PALACES. 

I left my gondola at the Rialto long enough to cross and 
recross this bridge, a single marble arch, 91 feet span, rest- 
ing on 12,000 j^iles. There are a score of shops, with fruit, 
jewelry, and fancy wares, which were ranged along the 
covered ways. Shylock's Rialto, however, was not the 
bridge, but a neighboring square. Here it was that Anto- 
nio's losses were talked over by the merchants, and there 
the Jew was rated and spit upon. Rialto, rivo alto, deep 
stream, was the first island inhabited, and was long the port 
of Padua. 

Though moldy and yellow, the architecture of Venice 
is varied and rich. There is a language in the lines, angles, 



ITALY. 191 

arches, spaces, and perspective of these Venetian stones, 
built up, as Ruskin says, into " graceful arcades and gleam- 
ing walls, veined with azure, warm with gold, and fretted 
with white sculpture, like frost upon forest, branches turned 
to marble." The energy of the Lombard architecture is 
here wedded to the spirituality of the Arabic and the beauty 
of the Romanesque. But, as in Pompeii, there is here 
more than the critical details of art to occupy our thought. 
We remember that only a few inch'cs of marble covered 
violence, corruption, and cruelty. " Through century after 
century of gathering vanity and festering guilt, the white 
dome of St. Mark's had uttered, in the deaf ear of Venice, 
* Know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee 
into judgment.' " 

Casa d'Oro stands supreme among the places, built about 
the year 1350 with most fanciful ornateness, and covered 
with gold, as some believe. Others say that the Dora 
family gave their name to it. The poll or posts that once 
marked a nobleman's residence still bear heraldic colors. 
The gondolier also pointed me to the Foscari Palace, the 
Balbi and Pisani ; but I saw no cloth of gold hung from 
the windows, nor Venetian ladies, decked with barbaric 
gems, gazing out, as when the republic welcomed home 
their victorious galleys laden with Eastern spoils. I did 
not land again, for the sun was climbing high, and its 
garish rays showed too clearly the rust and wrinkles on the 
faded beauty of other days. The heat, too, was noticeable 
and a noon nap seemed to be in order. This was enjoyed 
in cool, quiet quarters. These marble palaces, which the 
best Italian hotels now occupy, may be uncomfortable 
enough in winter, but in midsummer I found them very 
a<?"reeable. Over the smooth, shinino: mosaic which formed 
the floor, mats were laid here and there, and a lace netting 
formed a part of the canopy over the couch. The height 
of the room nearly equaled its other dimensions, so that 
in this spacious stony cube I had ample ventilation with 
the swinging window-frames thrown open. Meals could 



192 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

be had at any hour, and of almost any kind, provided your 
patience and your purse held out. 

After his visit at Venice, Charles Dickens wrote to Lady 
Blessington, with charming humor, that his purse had 
always been open and all Italy yearned to have its hand in 
it ; that he meant to hang it up as a trophy, with its 
memorial marks — one recalling a single payment of 500 
francs for horses ; another witnessing to a hotel charge 
thrice the correct amount, which was paid ; a third telling 
of greedy custom-house officials, and so on ; and that he 
meant finally to bequeath it to his son, saying, " Take it, 
boy, thy father had nothing else to give ! " The Stoiss 
Economist says that the rise in hotel charges is principally 
due to the extravagance of American visitors, whose aver- 
age expenditures are two to three thousand dollars each. 
This estimate is high, but there are, doubtless, multitudes 
of idlers who delight in pretentious display, and return 
home, after six months' travel, Avith their brains as empty 
as Dickens' purse. I met a party of three or four Mary- 
landers, who gave me the unsolicited information that they 
had " dorie " Europe to the tune of $50,000. They seemed 
to be posted as to the matter of wines, but deplorably 
destitute of common sense. 

OUTDOOR RAMBLES. 

Street life varies at every stage of your journey, for 
there are many modifying circumstances, even where the 
climate is uniform. The character of the people, their 
intelligence, thrift and industry ; the traditional usages of 
society ; the municipal regulations ; the topographical 
features of a city ; its style of architecture and its sur- 
roundings — all these change the picture which its streets 
present. The isolation of Venice and the absence of streets 
and open gardens at once strike your attention. You 
find the houses of irregular shape and size, huddled together 
with alle3'^s between so narrow you can almost reach across. 
Que lower door may answer for several f amilies^ ^nd the wm^ 



ITALY. 193 

dows on the ground floor are barred with iron. Venetian 
blinds are not found in Venice, but solid shutters are used. 
Iron balconies jut out on narrow brackets, as do chimney- 
flues. The plaster stoves are said to be good eaters and poor 
heaters. A scaldino is often carried from place to place 
filled with burning charcoal, during the four cold months. 

The dress of the people exhibits the usual variety inci- 
dent to position and employment. Here is a learned monk 
with shorn pate, and there a gay lounger, " affluent of hair 
but indigent of brain." The one has his mass-book and 
beads ; the other, in velvet doublet and long hose, tosses 
aside with jeweled hand his red cape. The clatter of small 
wooden soles attracts your attention, perhaps, to the peas- 
ant girl of Lido, whose robust figure and sunburnt brow 
are in marked contract to the appearance of her city sister 
of fairer complexion and more delicate make up. Both 
are fond of bright colors. The black bodice, yellow skirt, 
blue apron and red kerchief show this. On holidays, green 
or violet silk with white veils may be substituted. Those 
baskets of lavender and rose look moist and fragrant. The 
purple figs, the plump fowls, the dark-green melons nest- 
ling, perhaps, in laurel leaves, form an appetizing vision as 
you stroll by the shops. 

The song that comes from the wine rooms directs your 
eye to the red casks and dull bottles of an old vintage. 
Keep clear of them and come with me to the center of 
Venetian life and gayety, the grand square of St. Mark. It 
is night. The air is balmy and the sky is bright with stars. 
The band is beginning to play. Take a chair and a table 
and sip a glass of granita — a frozen mixture sweet with 
fruit syrup, " first cousin to ice-cream." With cake it is 
served for half a franc. These we eat under the portico 
where once only nobles were allowed to walk. Before us 
is the Ducal Palace, the Bell tower and the Cathedral of 
St. Mark. 

How about this saint, the tutelary divinity of Venice ? 
It is an oft-told legend of what happened a thousand 



194 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

years ago. Two Venetian merchants were at Alexandria. 
They smuggled away the corpse of the Evangelist by cover- 
ing it with pieces of pork, and then shouting in the ears of 
the Mussulmans the name of that most offensive flesh. 
During the homeward voyage the dead saint had to take 
command of the ship in a storm to save it from destruc- 
tion. When he, or it, arrived, a grand reception was ten- 
dered. After awhile the Venetians lost track of St. Mark, 
but subsequently found him through the strong odor 
which he emitted, as Johnson once tracked Boswell. At 
another time St. Mark kindly thrust his hand through a 
marble column, dropped a ring which disclosed a coffin, 
and which led to other grave disclosures. He had also a 
tame lion, with wings, which, like Mary's lamb, went 
wherever Mark would go. Some sceptics prefer the theory 
that Daniel's vision suggested the lion's pinions. Opinions 
vary, but for ages the question used to be put to each 
returning vessel as it entered the port, " What do you 
bring for St. Mark ? " When a captive was to be ransomed, 
the question was, " What will you give to St. Mark ? " 

Those four horses that stand by the door have been great 
travelers. They have visited Rome and Paris and Con- 
stantinople. They witnessed the Crusades and have parti- 
cipated in many stirring events of modern times. They 
were raised in Greece. Their age is" uncertain — as is the 
case with all horses — but the weight of each is 1932 
pounds. This has not changed during all their active life, 
and they look now as lively and rampant as ever. These 
are the only horses in town. Many Venetians, it is said, 
never saw but these four. 

You notice at the northwest angl^ of this broad square 
the Clock-Tower. There is a mechanism only second in 
interest to Strasburg clock. Every five minutes, large, dis- 
tinct figures, Arabic and Roman, moving below the dial, 
tell you the hour-^VIII. 45, VIII. 50. At certain hours 
when all good Papists are supposed to be on their knees, 
three kings, led by a star, march out one door and bow to 



ITALY, 195 

the Virgin, returning by another. For a proper fee you 
are allowed to see the show ; only be careful — if on the 
tower when the quarter-hour blow is struck — that the huge 
hammer in the hand of the bronze Yulcan does not knock 
you over the battlements, as was the case some years ago 
when Evelyn w^as in Venice. 

As your eye turns to the Campanile you think of Galileo, 
who once stood on that lofty tower 330 feet high and 
studied these same constellations that now shine in the sky. 
As soon as he had invented the telescope he came hither, 
and for more than a month was busy in showing it to the 
nobles and other patrons of science. Receiving an intima- 
tion that it would be a good thing for him to present the 
telescope to the Senate, he took the hint and did so. He 
got a professorship in the University of Padua as a reward, 
the salary of which was repeatedly increased, and finally 
doubled and made a permanent income for life. 

Yonder beautiful building recalls the liberality of an- 
other scholar, Petrarch, who, in 1362, gave his library to 
the city in return for attentions received while a resident 
here, a fugitive from the plague in Padua. This collection 
includes rare MSS. of Homer and Sophocles, rich in gro- 
tesque Byzantine illustrations. These musty parchments 
delight scholars, but Venice knows little of them to-day, 
and cares less. 

See those tired toilers. Thej^have slept out the concert, 
lying on the steps of St. Mark's. They are doing well. 
The marble is warm and the mercurj^ still stands at 78°. 
The musicians are moving toward the water-side to the 
notes of a livel}^ march. Let us follow. How weird the 
scene as we stand here between the lion and the crocodile, 
where so,many executions have taken place, and look out 
over the bay. Dull lanterns burn on the gondolas like 
funeral torches, here and there flitting in the darkness. 
The groves of the Lido, where the nightingales are now 
singing, are hidden, and the curving shore is lighted with 
countless lamps throwing their red glare on the water. In 



196 OUT-DOOB LIFE IN EUROPE. 

her palmiest days 30,000 of the people of Venice slept in 
boats every night. But all is changed. Her glory and 
wealth are gone. The serenade has ceased, the evening 
bells ring out an elegy. Sismondi and others predict that 
while the name of Venice will remain a splendid shadow, 
its borders will come to be but a pestilential marsh, its 
palaces roofless, its population a few fishermen, the ruin a 
second Babylon, where the porpoise is substituted for the 
fox and the gull for the bittern. Emilio Castelar has 
observed with truth that life is nourished upon death, and 
that Venice fell at the cradle of America as Iphigenia at 
the cradle of Greece. She was the England of mediaeval 
times ; her liberties the most ancient of Christendom ; her 
architecture an epitome of all epochs, a wonder of wonders 
in richness and variety ; and her power in art was that of 
a magician who compels others to be imitators by the kiss 
of fire which she lays on their foreheads. But now, he says, 
she is dying. The Phrygian cap of the republic and the 
Byzantine crown of the East have fallen forever from her 
head ; her voluptuous banquets are ended ; her sea-flowers 
and coral garlands have lost their aroma, and a sepulchral 
silence broods over stagnant pools whose green slime swims 
like bodies of the dead. Desolation rests on the somber 
palaces, rich in twisted columns, plinths and pedestals, in 
Gothic rose and Arabic window ; and as their heavy 
doors turn slowly on their hinges and their occupants 
softly descend the yellow steps into a gondola, they 
look like those who go slowly down to rest in the last, 
long sleep. 

The band has disappeared. We stroll along the mole ; 
stand on the bridge Paglia and see the modern prison 
where 300 prisoners are incarcerated ; glance at the 
*' Bridge of Sighs," over which so many heavy feet and 
heavier hearts have passed, to find, as Roger says, 

" That fatal closet at the foot, lurking for prey ! 
That deep descent leading to dripping vaults 
Under the flood where light and warmth were never 1 " 



ITALY. 19lr 

John Howard tells of the loathsome cells he visited here, 
to which many were condemned for life. The prisoners 
told him that they all would prefer the slavery of the 
galleys if they could once again enjoy the air and light 
of day. 

STORIES OF THE TEN TYRANTS. 

Long ago I had learned from the researches of Daru, in 
the Royal Library at Paris, enough to gain some idea of tlie 
merciless rigor of the Inquisition of tlie State. This knowl- 
edge awed me as I viewed the spot about which these 
tragic associations cling. Their recital ought, at least, to 
intensify the loyalty of English-speaking people to the 
free institutions which it has been their boast to sustain 
and extend. 

The Council of Ten gave, in 1454, plenary power to the 
Inquisitors of State over all who should expose themselves 
to punishment. This is said to be the only code ever writ- 
ten " on the avowed basis of perfidy and assassination, and 
exceeds every other product of human wickedness." The 
treasury of the Ten was at their service, and no account 
demanded ; the terrific dungeons below, or the hollow 
niches within the walls of the palace, were at their disposal ; 
the cord, the sack, the dagger or the poison waited their 
call ; and not only Venetians but foreign ambassadors must 
obey their mandates without questioning. Sometimes a 
hint was given to the stranger, if a man of mark, in these 
words, " The air of Venice is unhealthy," and he fled for life. 

A Genoese painter talked one day with two Frenchmen 
who were indiscreet in their criticisms of the government. 
Spies heard and reported the convei'sation. The next day 
the painter was summoned. He was asked by the Inquisi- 
tors if he could recognize the persons who talked with him 
the day before in a certain church. He assured the ofticers 
that his own words had been only praise. A curtain was 
removed and he saw the bodies of the two foreigners hang- 
ing from the ceiling. He was dismissed with the advice to 
keep quiet and express no opinions either way. 



198 OUT-BOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

A German merchant was hurried out of his hotel one 
night, muffled in a cloak, carried to an underground apart- 
ment. The next day he was confined in a room hung with 
black, lighted with one taper burning before a crucifix. 
On a third day, an invisible Inquisitor inquired his name, 
age, and business ; if he had heard an abbe use certain ex- 
pressions, and if he could recognize his face if shown. A 
screen was then removed and a gibbet was shown with the 
priest upon it. 

A French nobleman was robbed in Venice and com- 
plained of the negligence of the police. As he was leaving, 
his gondola was intercepted by another, bearing the omin- 
ous red flag, and manned by minions of a ruthless and mys- 
terious power. "Pass into this boat!" Then followed 
short, rapid queries as to the theft and his suspicions. 
" Would you know him again ? " " Undoubtedly." The 
ofiicer coolly lifted with his foot a covering, and there lay 
the corpse with the green purse in its pulseless grasp, con- 
taining the five hundred ducats undisturbed. The noble- 
man was ordered to take his gold, leave, and never set foot 
again in a land the wisdom of whose government he had 
dared to impeach. 

In the life of Howard it is related that a nobleman was 
roused at dead of night and carried off in a gondola to a 
lonely spot, to see the strangled body of an intimate friend, 
the tutor of his children. This young man had unwisely 
repeated remarks on certain political matters which he had 
heard from the lijDS of his patron. The cord was the cruel 
cure for careless speech. Enough of this. The day of reck- 
oning came to Venice. Ezekiel's prophecy against Tyre 
told this doom of this Queen of cities. " Because thou 
hast said I sit in the midst of the seas, thine heart is lifted 
up because of thy riches. Every precious stone was thy 
covering ; thou hast gotten gold and silver into thy treas- 
uries ; by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic thou hast 
increased thy riches. I will bring strangers ; they shall 
defile thy brightness." One morning in May, 1794, twenty 



ITALY. 199 

gun-boats and 80,000 men appeared. Bonaparte told the 
Venetian ambassadors, " There shall be no more Inquisi- 
tion, no more Senate, and I will prove another Attila to 
Venice." Tlie arsenal was stripped ; the golden book was 
burned, and a new inscription was put on the volume in 
the lion's hand, "The rights of man and of civilization ! " 
The last Doge while stooping to the humiliation of an oath 
of allegiance to his new master was stricken in a fit and 
died soon after. Though hand had joined in hand, the 
wicked went not unpunished. 

THE PALACE OF THE DOGES. 

Where is there a stranger juxtaposition of glory and of 
shame, of beauty and of horror ? Above are 

" Rooms of state 
Where kings have feasted, and the festal song 
Rung through the fretted roof, cedar and gold " — 

below are the damp sepulchral dungeons where tortured 
prisoners lay in agony and darkness. There I saw the 
channel chiseled in the stony pavement to conduct away 
the blood when men were butchered. Above are pictures 
of saints and angels, of the Redeemer of men and apostles 
of peace ; below are the footprints and handiwork of 
fiends ! Charles Dickens describes his descent into these 
"dismal, awful, horrible stone cells. They w^ere quite 
dark. One cell I saw in w^hich no man remained more 
than four and twenty hours, being marked for death be- 
fore he entered it. Hard by, another, whereto a monk, 
brown-robed and hooded, came — ghastly in the day and 
free, bright air, but in the midnight of that murky prison, 
Hope's extinguisher, Murder's herald. I had my foot upon 
the spot where the shriven prisoner was strangled, and 
struck my hand upon the guilty door through which the 
lumpish sack was carried out into a boat, and rowed away 
and drowned where it was death to cast a net." My guide 
pointed out the sad inscriptions which the sufferers had 
scratched on the walls ; also the dungeon in which, to 



200 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

gratify a poetic caprice, Bj^ron spent twenty-four hours, 
locked up in the dark to see how good it was ! 

The tablet in the frieze of the Council Hall, which should 
have been filled by Faliero's face, bears on its black front 
the record of his treason. The spot on which he, in his 
eightieth year, was decapitated ; the museum, paintings 
and other works of art, including Tintoreto's " Paradise," 
the largest oil painting in the world, should be noticed ; 
the Arsenal, with the instruments of old-time torture ; 
poisoned needles shot from a spring . pistol ; ancient cross- 
bows, swords and bucklers, with silken banners and ori- 
flammes that fluttered in the hot breath of battle in the 
days of the Crusades, as at Jaffa, when, according to the 
Archbishop of Tyre, the Venetians fought ankle-deep in 
blood, the sea was reddened two miles around, piles of the 
dead unburied for days along the coast. Hillard considers 
this the most impressive place in Venice, an epitome of six 
centuries of Venetian life. Although robbed by French 
and Austrian, there is enough left to make vivid the mem- 
ories of the republic, when the palaces, of white Istrian 
marble decked with porphyry, were brilliant with purple 
hangings and richest tapestry ; when Titian's superb paint- 
ings adorned the walls ; gold, silver, spices and silks from 
the East were brought home as spoils of war, and Venice 
came finally to a modern Capua, naked Venus keeping her 
court where Cupid rides the Lion of the deep. 

THE MARRIAGE OF THE ADRIATIC. 

This festival was celebrated for 1 80 years to commemo- 
rate victories over sea pirates in 997, but in 1370, Ascension 
Day was made commemorative of the grander triumph won 
over Frederick Barbarossa. Then Pope Alexander gave 
the Duke a ring of gold as a token of dominion of the sea, 
to be thereafter subservient to Venice as a spouse to her 
husband. Galibert's " Histoire de Venise " has a minute 
account of this brilliant outdoor festival, which was fol- 
lowed by a fair that lasted a fortnight. At this its me- 



ITALY. 201 

chanical and decorative arts were exhibited in temporary- 
pavilions on the Piazza — the velvets, silks and wool ; the 
wonderful Venetian glass ; their exquisite laces ; bracelets 
of gold and curiously ornamented arms and armor ; paint- 
ing, sculpture — in short, everything that illustrated the 
glory and pride of her who not only " held the gorgeous 
East in fee," but was herself wise and cunning in all handi- 
craft among men. Silver bells rang out from every tower 
and belfry, and cannon boomed from the forts and arsenal. 
The Ducal dignitaries are preceded by a band of fife- 
players and silver trumpets ; by children attired in ribbons 
and frills ; servants and secretaries with taper, footstool 
and cushion, and by the captain of the city in velvet 
cassock and scarlet robe, with buckled girdle and clanking 
sabre, red sandals and black cap. The grand chancellor 
wears a senatorial garb, and is attended by a little child in 
princely attire, whose dimpled hand, with innocent igno- 
rance, is used to pick the gilded balls from the urn of 
scrutiny on the election of the Doge. Now appears the 
central personage, in a mantle of ermine, with buttons 
of gold, wearing a blue cassock, Phrygian cap and jew- 
eled crown. His long robe is made of heavy cloth of 
gold, and his sandals are woven in gold. The Papal 
legate is on his right, with square hat, surcoat buttoned 
from top to bottom, a lace embroidered alb and a short 
cloak ; the imperial ambassador, with conspicuous ruff and 
velvet bonnet, is on his left. Other officers bring up the 
rear of the procession. They embark amid thunders of 
artillery, and sail in the magnificent I^ucentaur toward 
Santa Elmo. The Patriarch and clergy here meet the 
Ducal party, and a vase of water is poured into the Adri- 
atic as a propitiatory offering. Arriving at the port of 
San Nicolas, the Doge speaks in sonorous Latin these sacra- 
mental words, " Desponsamus te, mare, in signum veki 
PEEPETuiQUE DOMiNii " — " Wc wcd thcc, Sea, in token of 
our true and perpetual sovereignty ! " 

One might think that, in course of centuries, a pile of 



202 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

gold rings would excite somebody's cupidity, but the latest 
information on the subject is that the sacred ring was care- 
fully caught in a net and so made to do continuous service. 
The festival long ago ceased. The barge was burned by 
the French in 1797. Those who wish to know of the pres- 
ent festivals will find Adams' " Queen of the Adriatic " an 
ample guide. 

THE CATHEDEAL AND BELL TOWER. 

The brilliant panorama of Venice must conclude with 
these two pictures. They fitly close this imperfect review 
of a few of the salient points of Venetian life and history, 
with which every stranger should be familiar in order to 
fully enjoy his visit. 

The former edifice, in the eye of Ruskin, is the "Bible 
of Venice," written over with the truth of God. It is a 
symbol of the Bride of Christ, all glorious within, neither 
gold nor crystal spared in the adornment thereof. With 
exuberant fancy and glowing rhetoric, he turns over the 
illuminated pages of this great " Book of Common Prayer," 
and reads us a lesson from its pillars of jasper, gates of 
bronze and shadowy aisles, over which bend glittering 
canopies, some with stars and arches, that break into a 
marble foam and sculptural spray, as if the waves of Lido 
had fell frost-bound, and the sea-nymphs had inlaid them 
with gold and amethyst. 

Others, like Sismondi, have looked on the bewildering 
tracery of vine and acanthus, sceptered angels, signs of 
heaven and toil of man, and pronounced the spectacle at 
once " majestic and mean, half awful and half ludicrous." 
If seen by solemn nocturnal illumination, the interior may 
appear less tawdry and vain. The deep undulations of the 
floor, caused by the settling of the piles, gives one a 
strange sensation. The most interesting thing of all is 
that red and white diamond-shaped marble which marks 
the place where Pope Alexander III., robed in pontifical 
vestments, that blazed with jewels, placed his foot on the 



ITALY. 203 

neck of the prostrate German Emperor, repeating the 
words of the 91st Psalm, "Thou shalt tread upon the 
lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou 
trample under feet." The intrepid prince, Frederick Bar- 
barossa, was a man, Milman says, of unmeasured ambition, 
severe justice and barbaric ferocity, tempered with chival- 
rous gallantry, having the loftiest ideas of supremacy over 
all the powers, temporal or spiritual. He writhed under 
the humiliation and murmured, " To St. Peter, not to thee, I 
kneel ! " The pope trod a second time with more severity on 
the emperor's neck, saying, " To me, and St. Peter ! " nor 
did he withdraw his sandaled foot till his foe seemed fully 
humbled. Then, as a lackey, the haughty Teuton was 
obliged to hold the stirrup when the pope mounted his 
horse at the door. As Adams suggests, much of legendary 
fiction may gather about the facts. But the event itself is 
authentic, and invests the spot with an interest that the 
pretended relics shown by priests cannot inspire, such as a 
vase of the real blood of Christ, apart of the skull of John 
the Baptist, and other shows as silly as the bottled dark- 
ness of Egypt, or the sword that Balaam once wished that 
he had. 

We pass groups of " the oldest family in Venice " — the 
tame pigeons, whose settlement dates from 877, when, on 
Palm Sunday, doves with clipped wings let loose by St. 
Mark's sacristans settled about the square, their home ever 
since. 

It is said that Milton once wished, if his sight could be 
restored, that his eyes might first open on beautiful Flor- 
ence in the valley of the Arno. It is, indeed, a fairy scene, 
that city of lilies, and it is not strange that Milton longed 
to see it again. Dr. Guthrie, with enthusiastic admiration 
of the "Queen of the Highland lakes " he loved so well, 
exclaimed, " Will there not be a Loch Lomond in heaven ? " 
Of the loveliness of Naples bay much is justly said, but of 
the view from the Campanile of St. Mark's at sunset there 
are, perhaps, as many extravagant descriptions in print as 



£04 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

of any place in the world. The earliest I find is in the an- 
cient phrases of Coryate, as quoted in a foreign periodical 
.many years ago : " I thinke you have the fairest and good- 
liest prospect in all the worlde ; for there hence you see the 
whole model and forme of the citie, a sight that doth, in 
my opinion, farre surpasse all the shewes under the cope of 
heaven, a synopsis of the Jerusalem of Cristendome." 

The Alps and Apennines fringe this vast, broad basin. 
The Adige and the Po pour their waters into the gulf, as 
the Meuse and the Rhine into the Zuyder Zee, making in 
both cases wide saline marshes and islands. On these por- 
tions of the lagoon, Venice lies, "like a swan's nest," with 
her white walls and palaces cradled in the wave. 

The eye ranges from the snows of Tyrol on the north to 
the far-off mountains of Istria on the east, and the Julian 
Alps which look down on lUyria and the land of the Turks. 
Let Lynton tell the rest : " The burning sunset turns all 
the sky to opal, all the churches to pearl, all the sea to 
gold and crimson. Every color gains an intensity and 
purity like to nothing ever seen in northern climates. The 
distant mountains glow like lines of lapis lazuli washed 
with gold ; the islands are bowers of greenery springing 
from the bosom of the purple waters. Great painted saf- 
fron and crimson sails come out from the distance, looking 
in the sunlight like the wings of some gigantic tropical 
bird ; flowers and glittering ornaments hang at the mast- 
head ; everywhere you hear music and song, the plash of 
swift oars and the hum of human voices ; everywhere you 
drink in the charm, the subtle intoxication, the glory of 
this beloved queen among the nations. And when the 
night has fairly come and the world has sunk to rest, you 
lay your head on the pillow with a smile, your last thought 
I am in Venice ! to-morrow I shall see her beloved beauty 
again ! " 

Our journey westward was now begun. Only rapid 
glances were taken of ancient Padua, of classic Verona — re- 
membered for its amphitheater and the tombs of the Scali- 



THE LAND OF TEE MIDNIOHT SUN. 205 

gers and of Juliet ; of Milan, with its cathedral, its memo- 
ries of Augustine, and Da Vinci's " Last Supper " ; of the 
rich plains of Lombardy, rice fields and mulberry groves ; 
of the Mincius, by which stream Virgil was born ; of the 
quiet lakes at the foot of the Alps ; the battle-ground of 
Solferino, and other places of historic interest. Turin was 
reached again, which is but thirty hours from Paris. My 
tour of Italy was ended. The words of Mantua's bard, 
which close his third pastoral, kept coming up in my mem- 
ory as the long journey was drawing to a close. I had 
seen enough, and could say, 

" Claudite jam rivos, pueri ; sat prata biberunt. 
Close now your streams, O swains, the meads have drunk enough," 

May God bless regenerated Italy, and lift her again to 
her place among the nations ! And may all the continen- 
tal nations, with England and America, be forever united 
in the bonds of peace, of liberty, and religion. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 

" Hvad er det der f Pas paa ! Langsom, Stop ! " 
The captain's last word was plain enough. The stop- 
ping of the steamer was sufficient explanation. His con- 
versation with the Norwegian fishermen, who met us with 
warning words as they suddenly emerged from the fog, 
was quite unintelligible, inasmuch as in my early educa- 
tion the study of Norsk had somehow been overlooked. 
" Who's there ? Take care ! Slow, Stop ! " That is what 
he said. 

The fog soon lifted, and a panorama of unique, pictur- 
esque beauty burst upon the view as we came near to 
Stav ANGER. It was uow the summer solstice, but snow still 
crowned the encircling mountains. We were only forty- 



206 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

eight hours from England's green and sunny shores, 380 
miles, and the change was abrupt and striking. We almost 
seemed to be in Switzerland, looking at the Bernese Ober- 
land. An unusually severe winter, however, accounted for 
the long continuance of the snow. The fields were verdant 
and the air comparatively bland. Fair-faced Scandinavian 
girls and boys were playing in the streets, and some were 
trying their muscle, rowing in the bay. I helped one of 
them off the pier into her skiff, saying, " Pas paa," " take 
care " — that being the extent of my Norsk vocabulary at 
that time. She smiled and took up her oars and pulled 
away gracefully, as if at home in a boat. The donkeys 
and the drays, the wooden shoes, the fluted tiles, the dress 
and speech of the people, were attractive to a stranger, as 
well as the shops, the houses, the cathedral, 800 years old, 
into which, in turn, we looked. " Only two weeks ago to- 
day I Avas in Bi'ooklyn," this thought kept coming into my 
mind as I gazed over my novel surroundings. 

The most striking novelty in Norway was its intermin- 
able day. Going to bed seemed to be out of the question. 
Why should we, so long as one can read, even under a 
cloudy sky, all night ? I have heard of youthful lovers 
who are wont to call on their betrothed to spend an after- 
noon, that is, " till dark." Under these summer skies they 
might stay, if till dark, three months ! Were thej^ wedded 
in winter they would have three months of night to match 
their wooing by day. Nuptial bliss, indeed ! 

Passing Kopervik, with its moors and pasture lands, we 
soon saw the ancient pillar called St. Mary's Needle, in- 
clined towards the Church of Augsvaldsnoes. The legend 
says that when it touches the wall the world will end. On 
the opposite shore of the "sund" are Druidic stones with 
ghastly memories attached. One of them is now painted 
in alternate stripes, white, yellow, and black, and supj^orts 
telegraph lines, a striking picture of the juxtaposition of 
ancient superstition and modern intelligence.. Further on 
there is a tall red obelisk, that marks the grave of a Nor- 



THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 207 

wegian king who lived a thousand years ago, and the re- 
mains of a Benedictine monastery founded 1164. 

The next morning we passed the wreck of a large, new 
steamer, lost on her first V03'^age, caught in one of the 
maelstroms that make this coast perilous. The tides and 
currents proved stronger than steam. 

" She hadn't way enough on," said the officer who called 
my attention to the wreck, " for she was going at half 
speed." 

" That is just the trouble," said I, " with many a young 
fellow who lacks the inward momentum of principle, the 
power of moral character to carry him safely amid the 
vortices of temptation. The}'^ have not way enough." 

THE PORT OF BERGEN. 

Lyderhorn looked down from its serene heights, crowned 
with sunshine, and mellow sabbath bells filled the morning 
air with music, as the Domino steamed into the port of 
Bergen, where we remained till Monday afternoon. This 
seven-hilled town is one of the oldest in Norway'-, and its 
name signifies " a meadow in the mountains." It was a 
royal residence eight hundred years ago, and the most im- 
portant land and naval battles of subsequent centuries were 
fought here. It had thirty churches and monasteries. 
The Hanseatic League gave impulse to its traffic, and Ber- 
gen became the largest and busiest center in the kingdom. 

Its picturesque situation charmed me. I never shall 
forget the sweet tranquillity of that June morning as we 
entered the harbor, I have enjoyed much of European 
scenery, from the Hebrides to Venice, from St. Petersburg 
to Madrid and beyond, but few points of more alluring 
loveliness have arrested my attention than this old Nor- 
wegian seaport, with its noble amphitheater of hills, and 
its smiling environs, lying warm and bright under those 
cloudless Sabbath skies. 

Three things make a summer excursion along the western 
coast of Norway most enticing to a traveler. The scenic 



208 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

grandeur of those stern, solemn, awe-inspiring mountains, 
austere and bold, and glorious in their strength and 
solitude, is the first. Their gray and melancholy peaks 
often rise sheer and clear from the fiords to a considerable 
height, and present sometimes a weird and fantastic shape, 
as at the Lofoden Islands, with their countless pinnacles, 
compared to shark's teeth ; or the Seven Sisters, 4000 feet 
high, that S9em to clasp each other with frosty fingers in 
the upper air ; or, most notable of all, perhaps, the Giant 
Horseman, under the Arctic Circle, a mysterious presence 
that every Norseman feels, and in which he has a super- 
stitious awe. This suggests another element, the historic 
and legendary interest attaching to these localities. The 
old Vikings have left their memorial on sea and shore. It 
is delightful to look at this grand scenery through the 
misty perspective of romance and mythology. But more 
than all is the bewitching beauty of a ceaseless day, which 
invests with a subtle charm that which otherwise might be 
bleak, bare, and chilling. The fine gradations of color in 
sky and sea, on mountain and moor, the atmospheric con- 
ditions in these high latitudes where there is no night, 
give a plenary and crowning glory to the view. 

To tell the attractions of this one town of Bergen would 
require a book. To the lover of antiquity the museum 
affords materials for frequent and prolonged studj^ ; to the 
lover of art there is the gallery of paintings by native 
artists ; to the philanthropist the oldest and largest hospital 
for lepers in Europe is full of interest ; and to one who 
studies social and church life, the Norwegian Sabbath 
congregations and worship present many suggestive 
features. 

AT CHUECH AND HOSPITAL. 

The sacrament was administered by a Lutheran priest in 
black cassock and stiff ruff. He laid the wafer on my 
tongue, and another in crimson chasuble, with a huge gold- 
en star, cross, skull and bones emblazoned on its folds, 
put the cup to my lips. The choir sang and the organ was 



THE LAND OF TEE MIDNIGHT SUN. .209 

played meanwhile. Not a word of what he said did I un- 
derstand, but watching the movements of others, no breach 
of ^decorum was committed. In another sanctuary I heard 
a sermon in the same unknown tongue, enjoying its excel- 
lent elocution, and pleased with the devout attention of the 
immense audience, which packed the aisles as well as pews. 
The lack of ventilation made the atmosphere almost intol- 
erable. Yet people there, as here, dread a draft of pure 
air, though it be the soft, perfumed breath of rosy June. 

Deformity and skin diseases from syphilis and leprosy, 
resulting from " the two great sins of Norwegian peasantry, 
licentiousness and filth " — are very common. The hospital 
for lepers visited is said to be the oldest and largest in Eu- 
rope. There were 220 incurables, 116 men, 138 women, re- 
ceived in 1879. Inspector Hartwig took me through the 
male wards. Faces were distorted, covered with hard nodes, 
or white, scaly patches ; eyes bleared or blind ; fingers 
twisted, scarred, as if by burn, or bleeding with red, seamy 
sores, and limbs that no longer served their normal purpose. 
The air was malodorous, yet the disease was not regarded 
contagious, and the lepers did not show signs of pain. The 
doctor did not hesitate to handle the parts affected. Lep- 
rosy is believed to be a filiarial disease, but the workings 
of this peculiar entozoon are but little understood at 
present. 

Theaters and tobacco shops were opened at five o'clock 
Sunday afternoon. The Domino then began to discharge 
her cargo. I was glad to get away from the confusion and 
climb the verdant slopes of the grand amphitheater of hills 
that surround the harbor, to sit and read in quietness, enjoy- 
ing the delicious atmosphere and picturesque beauty of the 
place. The distant shout of bather or boatman in the bay, 
the note of bugle and of drum from the fort, wafted 
through the still air, the pleasant groups of people, who, 
with their children, had brought their evening meal to eat 
out-doors, seated on the grass, the serene loveliness of the 
sunset, and the grandeur of Bergen's seven mountains, all 



210 OUT-DOOB LIFE IN EUROPE. 

contributed to make the scene one of delightful, enduring 
interest. 

THE WIZARD OF THE BOW. 

That unique and charming personality, Ole Bull, had 
but recently passed away, dying August 18, 1880, at the 
age of 70, at Lyso, a few miles from his native town, Ber- 
gen. His birth-place and his grave awakened tender mem- 
ories in my heart. An admirer of Henry Clay said that, 
when under the fascination of the orator, he appeared to 
be forty feet high. The superb and princely figure of this 
musician was " an incarnation of the Magnus Apollo," as 
Prof. Crosby has said, and was one factor of his entranc- 
ing power. But his noble qualities of heart and mind, the 
citizens assured me, made him universally loved. A con- 
voy of 16 steamers escorted the steamer that bore his dust^ 
to Bergen. The quay where it landed, the streets through 
which it was carried, and the grave where it finally rested 
were strewn with juniper and pine ; flowers were showered 
on the casket, and tears fell from many eyes as the pro- 
cession, preceded by young girls in black, moved through 
the silent streets to the music of some of the great artist's 
own melodies. O hil dig^salige Jhneskaldy og farve ! O, 
blessed Tonebard, hail and farewell I 

scenes along the coast. 
Grand, lonely, and solemn, the scenery grows more im- 
pressive as you move northward. I sketched one of the 
islands of fantastic shape, like a crouching lion, and also 
Stebban Light, on a rock like Fastnet. At the midnight 
hour we passed Hornelen, whose ragged peak rises 3000 
feet in sullen, mysterious grandeur, while cascades leap 
from its riven sides a thousand feet above the sea. The 
sound of our steam whistle echoed a long while among the 
bare, rocky headlands and the distant shadowy hills. The 
legend tells of an old viking who climbed in armor the per- 
pendicular wall of Hornelen, 1200 feet, carrying a peasant 
under his arm. At Moldoen narrows, we passed so near 



THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT 8UN 211 

the rocks one could leap ashore. Soon after, the port of 
Christians AND opened its landlocked harbor to us. Row- 
boats came about the steamer. Passengers were landed, 
and custom-house officers came on board. Romodahlhorn, 
5090 feet high, was the loftiest mountain I saw in Norway, 
and in its appearance recalled the lines of Goldsmith about 
the tall peak which is covered with sunshine while girdled 
below with clouds. It was a lovel}'' sunset hour when we 
reached the picturesque old town of 

THEONDHJEM. 

A Norwegian inn was a novelty to me. That at Thrond- 
hjem bore a French name, Hotel d'Angleterre, and was 
scrupulously neat, quiet and economical. June flowers 
bloomed in the parlor, and a piano of peculiar sweetness 
and power furnished me much enjoyment. On arrival, 
your name is written on a large blackboard, ruled for 
thirty-six names, and placed in the lower hall. Meals are 
furnished when ordered. An excellent breakfast, including 
delicious boiled and roasted salmon, cream, eggs, and other 
toothsome adjuncts, was furnished for forty cents. Two 
days, lodging and attendance were $1.25. On leaving, I wag 
driven all alone, in princely stj^le, in an open barouche, to 
the railway station, with a driver in showy livery. For his 
top boots and gold lace, dazzling buttons and bands, I fan- 
cied a good fee would be exacted ; but the whole thing cost 
fifteen cents and no more. - 

The gardens were green, for it was June 22, the summer 
solstice ; but I made snowballs just above the roadside 
from a bank of snow left from the unusually large deposit 
of the previous winter. The continual day was a strange 
experience. Retiring at 11 p.m., the heavens were as 
bright as when with us the summer sun finds the western 
horizon. It seemed out of place to undress and go to bed 
in the daytime, as it were. But unless one has proper 
sleep he feels the effects on his nervous system in a few days 
of travel. Then the downy bed of spotless white and gen- 



212 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

eral comfort of the inns I chanced to visit were alluring, 
even though daylight did not fade. 

I remember the stillness of the streets, and how a Nor- 
wegian policeman seized and separated two fellows near 
my open window who were talking loudly. lie sent them 
off in opposite directions, telling them that they were wak- 
ing uj) the neighborhood. 

I spoke one evening, through an interpreter, to a little 
Baptist congregation. There were five nations represented : 
the United States, England, Sweden, Norway and Den- 
mark. Familiar melodies greeted my ears, sung to Norsk 
hymns, " Shall we gather at the river ? " ** Like a shepherd 
lead us," and the like. The hand-shakings and farewells 
at the close, extended to the stranger from over the sea, 
were touchingly fervent, for tens of thousands of Scandi- 
navians have found a home in the New World. Living 
links of love bind hearts on both continents together. Ad- 
dressing a crowded audience of six or eight hundred, some 
days later in Stockholm, I begun, in pleasantry, by saying : 
" Your faces look familiar. I must have seen some of you 
before. I'm sure I shall soon see some of yo\x in New 
York." A young Swedish preacher near the door started 
up with surprise, saying in his heart, as he afterwards told 
me, " Is it possible. There is my old college teacher, Pro- 
fessor Thwing, who cared for me when I was in need, 
years ago, in America." He came to me and embraced me 
and shed tears of joy. Then, falling on his knees, he gave 
God thanks for this unexpected meeting after long separa- 
tion. A few weeks later, in North Wales, I met two more 
of my students from Brooklyn. These episodes are de- 
lightful. At Christiania, my townsman and valued friend, 
Dr. T. L. Cuyler, overtook me, and for eight days I was 
" filled with his company," the only American acquaintance 
met in Norway. Few tourists have found out the enticing 
paths of the North compared with the thousands that flock 
to Switzerland and Italy. His book, "From the Nile to 
Norway," gives a racy account of the land and people. 



THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 213 

Throndhjem is the cradle of the kingdom and the home 
of the ancient tribe of the Thronder. By the banks of the 
Nid the Norsk kings were crowned. Many are the legends 
that have grown about the place the past thousand years, 
and the Cathedral attracted me, with Thorwaldsen's 
" Christ " and other objects of artistic and historic interest. 

THE KOYAL CITY. 

It is a distance of three hundred and thirty miles to 
Christiania. The trains run slowly. There are sixty-three 
stations. Twenty-four hours are spent on the journey. 
The carriages are really third and fourth class, though 
called first and second. In each compartment there is fast- 
ened a card giving the names of the stations and the time 
of arrival and departure, also a thermometer. The scenery 
is tame and grand by turns. Wooden huts and houses, one 
or two stories high, battened and roofed, perhaps with 
earth or green sods ; barns and farm-houses, log-built and 
dove-tailed ; tunnels and cascades ; waterfalls dashing over 
black rocks in thin, lace-like sheets ; roaring rivers among 
the wooded ravines, with quiet valleys where the cow-bell 
tinkles, and the lynx, the elk or red deer sometimes ven- 
ture ; sunny nooks or forest glades, where partridge, bear, 
or wolf may hide ; plane trees, with maple, spruce, fir, 
beech and pine ; wheat fields, and sorrel, a substitute for 
corn, barley, and oats ; distant mountains — the highest 
6000 feet ; glimpses of glaciers, — the largest in Europe is 
in Norway, 515 square miles in area, — winding streams 
and shining lakes, these are some of the objects that diver- 
sify the trip, whether by rail or carriole. 

Stopping at a station you notice the smooth, solid, 
painted door ; an elaborate fire-place with molded stone 
brackets ; polished hard-wood chairs and tables shining 
like glass ; decanters of water, bowls of cream, pots of 
coffee, and sandwiches waiting ; leaves of juniper and 
birch fastened about the w^alls of outhouses, and lace cur- 
tains in the station-master's room ; beds of flowers outside. 



214 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

and a big brass bell, bright as gold, secured to the building 
by a bracket having a leathern strap affixed to its tongue. 
This bell announces the departure of trains. 

The Hotel d'Angleterre opened spacious and elegant 
quarters to me at the royal city. The porter, Andrew Nils- 
son, spoke English and other languages. This functionary 
in foreign cities is a man of importance, and the post is 
honorable and remunerative. He is not a porter to carry 
burdens, but to stand at the porta to welcome people in 
their own tongue, and give them needed information. 
What we saw, for there were two of us, now — must be 
briefly summarized. Sunday we worshipped in the Festal, 
a rich semi-circular hall of the University — an English 
service. An out-door band concert was given at noon. 
People stood in the rain to hear. A Norsk service at 5 
P.M., and a walk outside the castle of Akershus and by the 
banks of the picturesque fjord followed. We both were 
charmed with the view we had from the roof of the King's 
Palace, which we visited on a week day. At the Univer- 
sity there are many ethnographical relics well worth de- 
scription, but guide-books give that information. 

From Christiania to Stockholm is 354 miles. Much of 
the country is " distressingly like home," to use my com- 
panion's phrase. It was so much like Maine he almost 
expected to hear the conductor call out Saccarappa or Bid- 
deford, as we stopped amid piles of lumber, and noted the 
Yankee houses with board and picket fences, wood^piles, 
bean-poles, and well-sweeps. We were all night on the 
road — there is "no night there," to be sure, but what passes 
for it, a sort of sickly daylight. We had a four hours' 
stop at Laxa. Ladies were shown into a room by them- 
selves. Dr. C, w4th astonished gaze, pointed out to me 
the words on the door, in large capitals, " Dam Rum ! " 
As an ardent temperance advocate he thought the epithet, 
so far as it characterized the beverage, was truthful, but its 
use here seemed ambiguous. The phrase is pronounced 
" dahm room," and simply means, " Ladies' Department." 



THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 215 

When the explanation was given, we were satisfied, and 
went to our own place, to take the miserable " Rum " fur- 
nished for men. 

THE BRIDE OF THE BALTIC. 

Stockholm is called the Venice of the North and the 
Bride of the Baltic. It is a very attractive city with about 
170,000 population. The history of the place covers a pe- 
riod of seven centuries. Its Westminster Abbey is the 
Riddarholm, a grand royal mausoleum, crowned by a spire 
of iron tracery 300 feet high, and having a chime of bells 
rung only when one of the Knights of the Royal Seraphim 
dies. The armorial bearings that decorate the walls, the 
torn battle flags, drums, pipes and trophies, the sarcophagi 
and stone figures are mute but eloquent memorials. Still 
more interesting to me was the National Museum, particu- 
larly the collection of historical relics. Here is the horse, 
stuffed, which was ridden by Gustavus Adolphus in his last 
battle, at Ltitsen, 1632, and the garments of the hero stained 
by his blood. Here is the silver shoe which was dropped at 
the coronation of Charles XIV., and the hat worn by Charles 
pierced by the bullet that killed him. The elaborate 
paintings, coins, vases, exquisite marbles and bronzes which 
adorn this edifice contribute to make it " the nation's pride." 

The Royal Palace has its gorgeous halls and chambers, 
blazing with gold, rich in malachite and porphyry, with 
costly Gobelins on the walls, and massive mirrors reflecting 
the splendor. The White Sea, a vast banqueting and ball 
room, covering more than a third of an acre, formed a cli- 
max. We were allowed to tread its shining floor only when 
felt slippers were put on our feet. 

SCANDINAVIAN CURIOSITIES. 

A more instructive visit was that we made to the Ethno- 
graphical Museum. One is here introduced into the domes- 
tic life of the people. Wax figures are scattered about the 
rooms. I addressed one of them sitting with a staff near 
the door, supposing it was an attendant, " What have you 



216 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

here ? " An intelligent woman in the bright Dalecarlian 
costume showed me the various apartments. In one, a 
winter scene was represented. Wool on tree and floor was 
cleverly used for snow, dogs, sledges and Norwegian peas- 
ants being introduced with fine scenic effect. Furniture, 
table-ware, ordinary and bridal costumes, military and 
ecclesiastical relics were shown ; a convict in irons, the 
ancient axe of the executioner, runic rods, beggars' clubs, 
and watchmen's staves ; hurdy-gurdies, rustic horns, tools, 
trinkets, and weapons unnumbered. Noticing a baby-chair 
with teeth inserted around the edge of the seat, I was told 
that it illustrated the superstitious belief that toothache in 
the future would be averted if those decayed teeth which 
were removed were inserted in the chair. 

THE MAEKET-PLACE AT STOCKHOLM. 

While museums and picture-galleries give you still life, 
fixity, and repose, the market-place gives you action, motion, 
music. All over Europe this was my favorite resort to see 
and study people. Here is nothing rigid, frigid, but all is 
living, actual, vivid, and picturesque. The painter prepares 
his subject as to dress, attitude, expression, and environment. 
These are sometimes effective, sometimes not, but in the 
market-place everything is unstudied, fresh, and spontaneous. 
Close by the Palace Hill in Stockholm, is the Great Market. 
Pages could be filled by a recital of the tragic scenes which 
have been witnessed here the past six hundred years. Exe- 
cutions took place on this spot. At one time 98 men were 
beheaded by a Danish king, and the event is known as the 
"Blood Bath." 

But we are more interested in the cheerful scenes of to- 
day, where sailor and soldier, Dalecarlian peasant in bright 
attire, and Yankee sight-seer jostle each other. What a 
Babel of tongues ! Crowing of cock and piping of pullet, 
shout of vender and chaffering of buyer, mingle in stridulous 
strains with the roar of city streets and whistling steamers 
all about us. 



THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 217 

Here is coffee — so called — for a penny a cup. The frugal 
dame picks out of a little box some bits of sugar with her 
fingers and puts them into the ambiguous mixture. She 
then adds a spoonful of milk. Having tasted, I venture to 
lift the tin pot of milk and pour a little more into my cup. 
The indiscretion is noticed. The old woman grabs the 
precious pot and takes it from me, uttering a string of sharp 
explosives that tell of surprise, grief, and indignation united 
at what she evidently regarded robbery. For had she not 
established the modicum of milk, and the exact number of 
crumbs of sugar ? Who is this audacious foreigner who 
dares to change the established order of things in Sweden ? 
To avoid international complications, I silently yielded, 
having, indeed, at command no words adequate for the occa- 
sion — and quaffed my coffee, which, like mercy, was not 
strained. 

You notice that the men occasionally wear rings dangl- 
ing from holes in their ears. Why not ? Neither sex should 
have a monopoly in self-mutilation. Up j^onder ladder two 
women are climbing carrying mortar. Hollow frames are 
fastened to their brawny shoulders by wooden yokes. 
Woman work for thirty-seven cents a day, while men get 
sixty ,-^and act like it when they get too much brandy. 
The women come an hour earlier than the men, bring the 
tools, and make the mortar. They stay an hour later, 7 p.m., 
put aside the tools, and clean up after the men. Washer- 
women are crossing the market-place to their laundries. 
There they pay twelve cents for washing twenty pounds 
weight. Ashes as well as soap are used. The garments are 
dried by steam and are very white. 

It is related of Bernadotte, that when he was corporal in 
the French army he proposed to a peasant girl, who by ad- 
vice of her friends rejected him because he was a poor 
soldier. After he became King of Sweden she wrote to 
him and asked for the washing of the palace, which he 
granted. 

At the " Blood Bath," it is said that a beautiful boy, who 



218 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

had seen his father beheaded, remarked to the executioner 
with infantile simplicity, " When you cut my head off, don't 
get my collar dirty, for mamma will whip me when I get 
home." Touched by this remark, the man of blood hid the 
child. For this act of motherly tenderness the executioner 
lost his own head. 

Merchandise here is as various as it was at Stavanger, 
where crabs and oysters, carrots and cabbages, strawberries 
and blueberries, myrtle and fuchsias, shoes and straw boxes, 
spoons and brooches, eatables and wearables are displayed 
in motley confusion. Then perhaps a Punch and Judy 
show may add to the scene a new feature, or a juggler 
swell the crowd, performing with his fan and his eggs, or 
swallowing flax, apparently setting it on fire and withdraw- 
ing it from his mouth, as I saw in the Djurgarden, an inter- 
minable coil of ribbons, red, blue, and yellow. 

A MISSIONARY CONFEKENCE. 

of a hundred Baptist preachers from all over the kingdom 
gave me a warm reception. Pastor Wiberg, since deceased, 
acquainted with fourteen tongues, and a second Ansgar in 
apostolic grace ; Professor Broady, a true Swede yet as true 
an American, serving as colonel in our Union army during 
the Rebellion ; Pastor Lindblom and others, who spoke 
English less fluently, acted as interpreters as I addressed 
the people at different times and places. Within the pre- 
vious six years 40,000 had left the state church. Men like 
Beskow, the Spurgeon of Sweden, represent the best ele- 
ments within the national church. Toleration of dissenters 
depends on the will of the parish priest and the sentiment of 
the local community. All the pastors and missionaries I 
saw seemed to be plain, earnest, hard-working men, poor yet 
making many rich. Some of them bore in their own body 
the marks of fetters, ball and chain worn for Christ's sake. 
Other have the sentence of imprisonment, with bread and 
water fare, hanging over them. One preacher told me of 
his first sermon in a cow-house, with an audience of five, 



THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN. 219 

while lower animals, horned and hoofed, in near proximity, 
furnished foot-notes to his discourse and interludes to his 
sonofs. After three evenino^s one man was converted. The 
Lord opened his heart. He opened his house and took the 
persecuted flock into his dwelling. Sixty were then con- 
verted. 

Another told me of his long journeys on foot in the north 
under the Arctic circle. Leaving wife and children, he went 
out without gold or silver in his purse or support guaran- 
teed by any society. From Dalecarlian forests on the 
south, up to the Nordland mountain solitudes toward Lap- 
land, he went like those of old whom persecutions at Jeru- 
salem scattered abroad everywhere preaching the "Word. 

I introduced Dr. Cuyler to the brethren, and they gave 
us an evening reception at the house of Per Palmquist, the 
Robert Raikes of that country. Rev. Dr. S. F. Smith, 
author of " My country, 'tis of thee," was present. Not 
content with this, they took us fifty miles on an excursion 
to old 

UPSALA AND ITS UNIVERSITY. 

Guide-books give details as to the historic and literary 
features of the place, of the Cathedral, tomb of Linnaeus, 
and the huge mounds where the old gods Thor, Odin, and 
Freya are said to be buried; of the University, few of 
whose 1500 students we saw, it being vacation — women 
are admitted on the same terms as men, and the plan is said 
to work well ; of the old Druidic stones and Runic in- 
scriptions, each word an idaeogram ; the Botanic Garden 
Observatory, Cemetery, Castle, and Mora Stones on which 
the early kings stood at coronation. 

The University Library, of 200,000 volumes and many 
manuscripts, is specially rich in having the Codex Argen- 
teus, 1500 years old, the gospels written in gold and silver 
letters on 188 leaves of parchment. It was shown to us by 
Lord Levenhaupt. We dined at a garden cafe in the open 
air, and then had a crowded and enthusiastic meeting in 
the Baptist chapel. A large procession followed us to the 



220 OUT-BOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

train, talking to us in a language we understood not, but 
with farewell gestures expressive of tenderest affection. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Glimpses of Finlais'd, Russia, and Denmark. 

"Standing moon, sailor sleeps." So said a deck-hand, 
pointing to the crescent orb, as our steamer passed out of 
the beautiful Saltsjohn into the archipelago and onward to 
the broad Baltic. The promise of fair weather was not 
fulfilled. The trip from Stockholm to St. Petersburg and 
return, 1000 miles, is easily made in a week. The excur- 
sion ticket was $17, exclusive of meals. Leaving Saturday 
evening, we reached Abo at 1 p.m. the next day. Sledges 
made this journej'' on the ice with the mails until April 27. 
Even as late as May day (1879), a party drove with horses 
on the ice into the middle of the Gulf of Finland. 

Seven hours delay in this port gave us opportunity to go 
ashore. The peasant women were driving home the cows, 
the latter wearing tin medals ; bright, rosy-faced Finnish 
children were selling flowers, and a band of music was play- 
iiig in the open air. A view from a rock}^ hill was very 
enjoyable. As the old prison was pointed out, built 1157 
as a castle, the story of the king was told. Duke John was 
imprisoned for conspiracy. He became insane, and, in the 
aimless activity of his imbecile life, wore circles in a stone 
table by the constant motion of his thumb. The Cathedral 
is called the cradle of Christianity in Finland, for here was 
established the first Episcopal chair, and here is the dust of 
its first heralds and converts. 

Helsingfors has been the capital of the province since 
1819. It is a modern town. The former settlement was 
ravaged by war, plague, famine, and fire. The removal of 
the university, library, and senate from Abo has given the 
place increased importance. A fortress, built on seven 
islands and called the Gibraltar of the North, protects the 



GLIMPSES OF FINLAND, RUSSIA, AND DENMARK. 221 

capitol. The combined fleets of France and England inef- 
fectually bombarded it in 1855. It was on the Fourth of 
July we came into port, and I displayed the stars and stripes 
in honor of the day. 

Finland is about the size of Dakota, and has two million 
people. They have no ethnic relation to the Swedes, but 
are a branch of the Ugrian race, and that of the Mongolian. 
We have 35,000 Finns in the States. In six months 7000 
have arrived. They are fond of reading, and have six 
newspapers published in their own language. For sixty 
years only about 38,000 Russians came hither, but 22,000 
have emigrated to these shores within ten months ! An- 
other tidal wave sweeps from Iceland. The edition of an 
Icelandic paper in Manitoba says that Iceland is " bowed 
down by political oppression " as a Danish province, and 
has sent 9000 to America. It will be depopulated if the 
present exodus continues many years. 

THE MARKET AT HELSINGFOES. 

Seven years have fled since I was there, but that outdoor 
picture-gallery is fresher in memory than the Hermitage of 
Catherine or the Royal Gallery of Madrid. Not a single 
face seen on these palace walls can I now recall, but the 
boats, stalls, and tables of that market-place are distinct in 
thought, — aye, the flavor jof the food tasted at the hotel 
hard by. 

It is a showery day. Along this stone pier, nearly up to 
its level, now at high w^ter, lie a hundred fishing-boats, 
the prow of each touching the pier. Each rude vessel is a 
residence and a place of business. Looking down into one 
dark, smoke-begrimed cabin — a junk shop and blacksmith 
forge in one — you see two men eating. Salt fish in one 
hand and hard tack in the other, these form a fisherman's 
lunch. These huge, dark wheels, a foot in diameter, are 
sometimes strung together by twine passing through a hole 
in the center of each. Soaked in coffee I have found them 
palatable, if one be hungry, but the Russian black bread is 



222 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

too much like asphaltum pavement a year old, both in color, 
density and weight. A wedge and heavy hammer would 
be needed to break it. The Emperor is said to have kept 
a block of it, cut into the form of a cube, for a paper 
weight. Irony, if not iron, is in it. The absence of sweets 
and other delicacies which ruin American teeth is a com- 
pensation for coarse food, and explains the superior integ- 
rity and beauty of the teeth of foreign peasantry. Thou- 
sands who never saw a tooth-brush have never felt a 
toothache. 

Here are milk-boats with firkins holding a dozen gallons; 
butter-boats with buckets of butter, nice and yellow ; 
potato-boats filled with bags and boxes ; fish-boats with 
nameless and numberless specimens, animate and exani- 
mate. Fish squirming in a net were weighed by steelyards. 
If there were too manj^-j the fish were dropped into the 
water bucket. Scores of stalls, covered and open, filled the 
square near the boats. A hundred sunburnt women sold 
cheap dry goods, fancy ware, or stationery. The green- 
grocer, the baker, and the farmer sold from their carts as 
well as from stands. 

See that brown-faced creature with ropy hair, and a 
bread-basket drawn over her head to shield her from a driz- 
zling rain. She hears our laugh at her grotesque appear- 
ance and pops out her face from underneath her comical 
covering, very much as a chicken suddenly appears from 
under the uplifted wing of a hen during a shower. 

There is another who has pillowed her populous cranium 
in the lap of a fellow-fishwoman, who is kindly examining 
the same, though with no phrenological intent ; while yon- 
der stolid fellow in soiled frock sits smoking his pipe indif- 
ferent to the passing showers. Drosky drivers hover about 
the market-places. Their black hats look like cuspadores 
upside down, and their rude vehicles like large V's spoiled 
in the making. The bungling wheels are big enough for a 
locomotive. The horse is hitched by traces to the axles 
outside the hub. 



GLIMPSES OF FINLAND, RV8SIA, AND DENMARK. 223 

A FUNERAL IN FINLAND. 

See that funeral train, a dozen droskies ; let us follow. 
The rain is over and the sun is shining. As we pass along, 
a seller of photographs presses his pictures on us. He is a 
more interesting study than his wares, for he speaks Finnish, 
Russ, Swedish, German, French, and Italian. These poly- 
glots are more common abroad than here. I had one for 
guide in London who had a score of tongues in which his 
one tongue could wag. 

A greenhouse stands at the gate of the cemetery. The 
grounds have a pleasant look. It seemed odd to see on the 
grave-stones, instead of the name of the month, the dates cut 
with commercial abbreviations, a fraction formed by the 
number of the month and the day of the month, with a slant 
line drawn between. The procession has reached the grave. 
The casket, covered in black cloth, is lowered by blue bands 
into the grave. A priest reads prayers and tosses in a little 
earth lifted by a long, slender shovel. Each kinsman drops 
in a handful of earth or a flower. The lily and the pansy nod 
near the brink and the lilac bushes overhead send out their 
fragrance. The service is a short one. There are no 
demonstrations of grief ; indeed, the men begin smoking 
before the grave is filled. 

ARRIVAL AT ST. PETERSBURG. 

Cronstadt, twenty miles from St. Petersburg, is a forti- 
fied triangle, built on an island, intersected by two canals, 
and has a triple harbor, through which the most of the ex- 
ternal commerce of the empire passes, although the water is 
shallow and the place is ice-bound five months of the year. 
It presented an unusually attractive appearance, inasmuch 
as " the first peaceful squadron of the British fleet in Russian 
waters " — as the London Times remarked — was lying then 
at anchor. Ironclads, monitors, war steamers, pleasure- 
boats with bands playing, ships of various countries with 
flags flying, and smaller craft combined to make a gay 
spectacle. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, was on a 



224 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

visit here. English and Russian officers hob-a-nobbed, on 
whose breasts hung medals received in the Crimean war, 
when they fought each other. Some of them I met at the 
table during the days spent at the Hotel d'Angleterre. 

A drosky driver in a long blue cloth robe, bound with a 
drab velvet girdle and trimmed about the throat with black 
bands, took me from the pier to the hotel for thirty copek, 
fifteen cents. He stopped to water his horse on the way, 
for which privilege he had to pay. My passport, vised at 
the dock, was now taken away from me and handed over 
to the police. I was told that but -nine Americans had 
been at this, their usual rendezvous, all the season. Im- 
perial spies were looking for Nihilists. Foreign visitors 
were watched. This was not inspiring. I took a short 
stroll, and visited the spot where Emperor Alexander H. 
had been murdered three months before. This was marked 
by a tem]3orary structure, and the candles, flowers, funereal 
decorations, and other mortuary appointments of the place, 
as well as the suggestions called up, were not specially 
exhilarating to me five thousand miles from home. The 
newspapers were still in mourning. But when I dropped 
into the United States Consul's office and was told, " Your 
President is assassinated ! " my spirits dropped to zero. 

AMONG STRANGERS. 

The Irishman who visited our Western Pork-opolis, 
Cincinnati, said that every other man he met was a pig. I 
fancied that every other man met in this great, grim, 
guarded garrison of the Czar was a soldier. We met them 
on arrival and saw them on departure ; had them feast-day 
and market-day, for breakfast, dinner, and supper, all we 
wanted. Of Russ I knew nothing ; indeed my German 
was Russ-ty, too rusty to beguile me into injudicious loqua- 
city with a stranger who, after all, might be a detective. 
As at Venice in the days of the Doges, the air here does not 
seem " healthy " for republicans. A gentleman at the 
totel who wore the uniform of an English navy officer 



GLIMPSES OF FINLAND, RUSSIA, AND DENMARK. 225 

asked me in French to play sometliing on the piano. I 
was unwise enough to betray my nationality by giving him 
" The Star Spangled Banner." He didn't talk French with 
me any more, but, in our mother-tongue asked me to visit 
him on shipboard. As I took up a copy of the New York 
Herald another gentleman remarked in English, "That 
paper came a good distance," which opened conversation 
and led to an acquaintance which has continued ever since. 
He was from New York city, and had been traveling three 
years.^ For weeks after he gave me his valued linguistic 
aid as well as the charm of his refined and genial society. 
Seated in the elegant drawing-room I was surprised to see 
two young ladies, guests of the hotel, walk in smoking 
cigars like old stagers. They were Russians, delicate, 
pretty, modestly attired, and aside from the use of the dirty 
weed were unobjectionable in appearance. One of them 
took " the burning shame " from her mouth and laid it on 
the edge of the piano, sat down, and began playing. An- 
other lady I saw who smoked while she stood holding a 
cup of coffee. She would sip the beverage and then puff 
the cigar, which was a very large one, and had an odor — 
well, it was not the odor of sanctity. 

One of the features of novelty in Russian life is the 
retention of the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar. 
My bill at the hotel was dated twelve days back, after 
the old Greek style, rather than the modern Latin ; such is 
the antagonism of the two churches. The Finns show 
their individuality in adapting the modern. They do not 
take off their hats, necessarily, before all funerals that 
pass. They have their own coinage, laws, and language. 

RUSSIAN WORSHIP. 

The Greek service in St. Petersburg is in ancient church 
Slavonic, and is very elaborate ; calculated to impress the 
common people with awe for the Czar and the church of 
which he is the head. The distinctions of wealth and 
standing are abolished in the house of God. There are no 



226 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

pews, no reserved places, but all occupy a standing posture, 
except when they bow on their knees and not only kneel 
but fall flat in the dust. It would not do the average 
American a bit of harm to be put through a course of 
genuflections and prostrations after the Greco-Russian 
style. It might help to moderate some of his impudence 
to be made to kneel of tener ; even to get his face fairly 
in the dust, as I have seen in the case of well-dressed 
ladies, blackcoated civilians, and officers in gold lace, as 
well as poor peasants. 

These people differ from the Romish in rejecting the 
Pope's primacy, purgatory, supererogation, indulgences, 
the worship of images, and celibacy. Believing that flame 
is emblematic of spiritual, as well as natural life, they use 
the candle at baptism, betrothal, burial and other sacred 
ceremonies. When I have seen the devout stand with 
bared head, even in the rain, and cross themselves when 
passing on the side of a street opposite to a church, I have 
thought of the contemptuous desecration of modern 
sanctuaries by those who use them for bazars, raffling and 
fortune-telling ; and of others, who with covered head and 
cigar in mouth, stand and smoke and spit about the 
vestibule of God's House of Prayer. 

The finest bass voices that this wealthy church can pro- 
cure are secured for cathedral deacons, who deliver the 
recitative solos with magnificent sonorous power. 

THE MUSIC OF THE GKEEK CHUECH. 

The splendid crescendos are another feature that the 
conductors of much of our humdrum church music ought 
to hear. It is strange that so little is made of this simple 
but effective ally of musical impression. This sign was 
first employed by Matthew Luke, in England, in 1676. 
We have too many " swells " in society, too few in music. 
Both at St. Isaac's and at Kazanski Sobor the crescendo 
was introduced with thrilling power, particularly as the 
golden doors of the ikonostas, twenty-three feet by fifteen, 



GLIMPSES OF FINLAND, RUSSIA, AND DENMARK. 227 

opening and closing, gave opportunity for striking changes 
in the dramatic expression. When these dazzling gates 
of gold open and the chief priest in cloth of gold comes 
out from the altar with stately step, accompanied by his 
deacons, bearing the sacred Eucharist, a plaintive, solemn 
prayer for the Emperor and imperial family is intoned, 
and all loyal subjects bow. Then, when the sweet 
sopranos of the cathedral boys ring out clear and loud, and 
the other solo and chorus parts coming in are caught up, 
to echo along the gilded arches, marble walls, and lofty 
columns of Siberian malachite and lapis-lazuli, lingering 
in deep recesses and dying away in distant waves of 
melody, the impression is indescribable ! 

The two temples referred to were erected at the expense 
of upwards of three millions of dollars each. This does 
not include the value of the diamonds and other gems that 
deck the pictures of Mary and the saints. The steps to 
the Emperor's standing-place are of jasper. In the 
cathedral of Our Lady I noticed gathered trophies of wars 
with Persia, France, and Turkey in the form of torn and 
blood-stained battle-flags. These, with keys of captured 
cities and other military adjuncts make this part of the 
place appear like an arsenal, more after the style of the 
Riddarholm's Kyrka, which Dr. Cuyler and myself visited 
a few days before in Stockholm, and which he regards as the 
most enticing object in the Swedish capital. Of the 
American chapel here, and a visit with Mr. William H. 
Ropes, of Boston birth and honored name, space does not 
allow me now to speak. 

STREET SCENES. 

Travelers see with different eyes. One American cor- 
respondent says : " Nowhere else have we seen faces with- 
out a smile and often with scarcely a ray of intelligence. 
Russia is a most disappointing country to travel through. 
The climate is unhealthy, the people afflicted with every 
species of skin disease, and in all our drives and walks 



228 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

"we saw scarcely one beautiful face. It is the only country 
in which we have been swindled and deceived." This last 
note of his jeremiad is probably the key to it all. I saw 
the bright side of things and happened to escape discom- 
forts, and so brought home pleasanter memories. I never 
shall forget, for example, the glee, the laughter and the 
shouts of one happy fellow who, with his lady, in an open 
carriage with a driver, passed me one day at a rapid rate. 
Whether they were on their way to be married or not, I do 
not know, but either love or Russian whisky wrought power- 
fully on him. He embraced his companion at intervals of 
about four seconds, giving a kiss with each hug, and a 
joyful ejaculation with each ardent osculation. I watched 
the trio until they disappeared in one of the "magnificent 
distances " with which the imperial city abounds. The 
laughs grew fainter and the forms indistinct, but the 
amatory exercise continued with the rhythm of a pendulum. 
Nor shall I forget two sweet-faced boys of ten or twelve 
years of age, thrown into my companionship awhile in my 
outdoor rambles, and how I fell in love with them and 
wished that their speech could translate the intelligence and 
friendliness which their faces and actions revealed to me. 

The horse market was not visited, but an acquaintance 
who went saw uncanny sights, so I am glad to have 
missed seeing "the road lined with beggars, men with both 
legs cut off and their knees tied to boards, others with 
hands gone, their clothes dropping off in rags, and bodies 
loathsome with disease." Rev. Dr. Buckley, who went 
into the interior, says that the common classes are filthy 
beyond description, and that a recital of their habits 
would be unfit to print. He adds : 

" Intemperance is exceedingly common. A great num- 
ber of holidays contribute much to this state of affairs. 
The people become frightfully drunk, and remain so until 
their money is entirely exhausted. They have a custom 
there called Porainki — a remembrance service forty days 
after a person's death. Once a year they visit family 



GLIMPSES OF FINLAND, RUSSIA, AND DENMARK. 229 

graves. This is often accompanied by debauchery. But 
some of their peculiarities might well be adopted else- 
where. Whenever a funeral passes along the street all 
Russians remove their hats. They will be qujte offended 
if you do not take off your hat in going into a place of 
business. The custom originated in the respect paid by the 
people to the image or picture of some saint or holy virgin 
which may be in the building. " 

The humblest classes bow to the ground before one they 
fear, or from whom they seek favors, and kiss the fringe of 
his garments as in the East. At the festival of Easter it 
would be indecorous for even those slightly acquainted to 
omit the usual kiss and embrace. The Emperor salutes 
his family and nobles ; they, their lower officers and re- 
tainers. Even the meanest sentinel whom the Czar may 
meet receives the royal grip. So in civil and domestic life. 
Mr. Sears reckons the number of such Easter salutations at 
fifty millions in St. Petersburg alone. Lip-salve is said to 
be in great demand after this miscellaneous and wearisome 
exercise. 

Although moving freely about the streets in every di- 
rection I did not happen to meet with trouble from the 
police, who are omnipresent. In fact, the porter in each 
dwelling acts in the dual relation of servant to the landlord 
and agent of the police to see that passport regulations are 
observed. I saw nothing of the Russian wrath which ray 
friend tells of, as when a driver offended his master. The 
latter poured forth his vials of verbal vitriol, the contents of 
which are represented in Englisli thus : 

" You miserable wretch, you imcouth, disheveled poltroon 
and loafer, you dastardly sluggard and petty simpleton, 
why are you running into that drosky ? " 

Nor was my hat and head imperiled by a *' stupendous 
Russian fist," such as came near crushing the Christian 
Advocate when its p%S!iSy editor thought he would see 
what would happen if he didn't uncover his shining pate 
before a priestly procession. 



230 OUT-DOOB LIFE IN EUROPE. 

THE HERMITAGE AND PETEEHOEF. 

The Winter Palace did not open its doors to us, but if it 
had, we could not spend the four daj'S which Murray says 
are required to properly examine it. He gives twenty- 
six pages of fine type to its description. The ceramic 
treasures, the Scythian, Grecian, and Oriental relics, and the 
1740 paintings are some of the enticing features. But in 
some aspects the Hermitage of Catherine H. surpasses the 
palace proper. It is a gorgeous exhibition of imperial 
splendor, decorated with Siberian marble, malachite and 
jasper ; rare specimens of Greek art ; golden antiquities 
from the Crimea ; paintings, jewels, arais, ornaments of 
ivory and diamonds, of ormolu and bronze, and, richer than 
all, 120,000 volumes, some of which bear the author's own 
annotations. 

Peterhoff is eighteen miles by land. I went by 
steamer for a trifle, and enjoyed the scenery of the Neva 
and the view of Cronstadt and distant Finland. Here the 
gardens, terraces, basins, tritons, dolphins, rocks, grottoes, 
and the hundred fountains with gilded statues and snowy 
swans, reminds the traveler of Versailles, particularly when 
the balls and illuminations of July have been had. I 
walked awhile under the lime-trees and the oaks, but saw 
no sign of royalty. The old castle built by Peter the 
Great has been a museum of varied treasures, including a 
collection of 368 paintings, made for Catherine II., repre- 
senting young Russian girls in various national attire with 
peculiar scenic effect. 

I went into a Russian church near the Summer Palace 
and noticed many young people present. It was John 
the Baptist's day. I had asked one Russian the name of 
the festival, but he could not tell, he said, there were so 
many during the year. He may have been a dissenter, 
of whom in the Greek Church there are said to be four- 
teen million. Easter festival alone consumes two months, 
being introduced by eight days' drinking and carousing 



GLIMPSES OF FINLAND, RUSSIA, AND DENMARK, 231 

called " Butter week." Hospitals are never so full as after 
Easter, and April is the month for special moftality. 

Of all the museums, literary, scientific, and medical 
institutions, of the embellishments of the public squares, 
the statues feminine, leonine, equestrian, and agonistic, and 
a thousand other themes this volume does not presume to 
treat. Judge B. and myself were satisfied with what we 
had seen, and proposed to face toward London, by the way 
of Stockholm, Gota canal, and Denmark. 

THE GOTA CANAL. 

Going from St. Petersburg to Copenhagen one would 
naturally take this much-praised canal and lake route 
across Sweden. We are glad we did, but we would not 
repeat it. Dr. Cuyler calls it a " fascinating " excursion, 
and Charles Loring Brace calls it " detestable." Inured to 
the hardships of travel, the latter had found " nothing so 
thoroughly disagreeable " as one of these crowded canal- 
boats. State-rooms had been engaged weeks in advance, 
and only the Black Hole remained, called " cabin," where 
for two nights and three days the passengers were packed 
away on tables and under tables, on chairs, settees, and 
shelves. There they ate and slept, waited upon by one 
woinan^ who came in and out among the sleepers at any 
hour of the night. 

Twenty-five years had passed, but I found a crowd 
almost as great as Mr. Brace encountered. A hundred or 
more emigrants slept on deck, on boxes, or under boats. 
It was hard to move about the boat, for they and their 
luggage seemed to fill almost every available foot of space. 
There are seventy-four locks to be passed in this aqueous 
staircase, and 300 feet is the highest elevation, which is 
reached at Lake Wettern. The distance between Stock- 
holm and Gottenberg is 300 miles, and the time consumed 
is sixty hours. We left Tuesday evening and reached the 
North Sea early Friday morning. 

But four hours' sleep was had the first night, with twelve 



232 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

crowded in the small, ill-ventilated apartment called the 
forward saloon. The sun was shining when we went on 
deck, 3:30 a.m., and enjoyed the fresh, dewy, fragrant air 
and heard the lowing cattle and the singing birds. As the 
day wore on we slowly steamed through sweet hayfields,, 
where the toilers rested on scythe or rake to see us pass, 
and now by grove, garden, or forest where the huntsman's 
rifle rang. Boys and girls just out of school — as slate and 
lunch-basket showed — kept up with us by running along 
the grassy bank, getting now and then a copper coin tossed 
ashore. 

Venders of microscopic strawberries offered their fruit 
at a price which was in inverse ratio to the size of the 
berry, while dealers in dark bread and tasteless buns found 
buyers among the multitudes of deck dwellers who were 
bound for the setting sun. Crossing Lake Wettern many 
were ill, for the motion to us was as great as we would 
have had on a steamer in a storm on the ocean. The 
Swedish lakes have a reputation for getting suddenly 
angry. 

Beds were made the second night just before midnight, 
and at 1 a.m. I was waked by the stewardess, who was fuss- 
ing about the room as if she intended that no one should 
sleep. Soon after four I was out of the malodorous place. 
Going on deck I found that we were lying near the railway 
station of Torebu. My legal friend and I would have 
taken the train here, had there been any available. Six 
hours seemed a long while to wait, so we concluded to en- 
dure a day and a half more of that trial of patience which 
worketh experience, in hope also that this experience may 
warn others from coming to this place of — purgatorial dis- 
cipline. The fine weather, be it said, was a merciful inter- 
position, for had the rain of the previous week continued, 
the discomforts of a crowded canal-boat would have been 
heightened. Breakfast was delayed till 9 a.m. Early risers 
need to lay in rations. From time to time I bought of 
email children small baskets of very small strawberries. 



QLlUPSm OP FINLAND, RUSSIA ANt) DENMARK. 233 

The latter were so diminutive that many of them, like 
sheep, would go astray before a handful could reach the 
mouth. The ex-mayor of Newcastle, a fellow-prisoner, 
remarked that the proper way for one to eat them was with 
pin in fingers and spectacles on nose. 

Soon another lake, Wennern, 100 miles long, was crossed 
at its southern end, and for several hours ventral disturb- 
ances were resumed, among the emigrants chiefly. Babies 
cried, and their weary mothers kept saying something like 
" Eu — rope," with both syllables prolonged. Others were 
pallid and very silent, as if studying the conundrum 
about the likeness of the sea and the sanctuary. The wild, 
picturesque falls of Trolhattan, " the home of the water- 
witches," were seen between ten and eleven at night, just 
before the moon rose. The forest shades were deepened 
by clouds in the sky so that the charming cascades were 
but dimly seen. After four hours' sleep, day-dawn found 
us in the pleasant port of 

GOTTENBURG. 

This is the Liverpool of the kingdom, a modern city and 
a cheerful one. It is said that the flight of an eagle in the 
chase of a bird led Gustavus Adolphus in 1618 to fix here 
the location of a new city. Three miles of shipping give 
a busy aspect to the harbor. We took a drive about the 
delightful environs through rural lanes and broad avenues, 
and saw bright stucco houses like Paris, as well as small 
Swiss cottages. In the workingmen's district of the city 
there are new, stylish brick dwellings rented for five 
dollars a month. Wages, however, are correspondingly 
low, and the exodus to America is steady. In the Work- 
ingmen's Hall I spoke to 700 Swedes, Capt. G. W. Schroe- 
der acting as interpreter. A short visit was made to the 
Jewish Synagogue, where we heard a gray -haired rabbi — 
clad in a white and gilt embroidered tallis and black robe — 
preach to fewer than thirty. The Gottenburg Museum 
was full of attractive objects. There was a stuffed whale 



234 OXTT-DOOR LIFE IN EUUOPE. 

84 feet long. The picture-gallery was entertaining, also 
the Botanic Garden. An out-door evening concert, and a 
dinner with a prominent citizen, gave us pleasant parting 
impressions of Swedish homes and people. 

CATTEGAT TOSSINGS. 

" Eat while you may, nothing will stand an hour hence," 
said the captain to us at the supper-table. The sea had 
raged for some days. "More shipwrecks occur in the Cat- 
tegat," he added, " than in any part of the world." Not 
the dangerous reefs alone are dreaded, but changing cur- 
rents draw vessels out of their course. Noticing liquor 
about, I remarked that men ought to be abstainers who 
have lives in charge amid such perils. 

" We, better than English, can tell when we've taken 
enough," was his reply, a common fallacy the world over. 

Our little steamer of 280 tons rolled and pitched fear- 
fully during the night. Going on deck at sunrise I saw the 
old fortress of Krongborg, at Helsingor, a locality rich in 
legends. 

LEGENDS OF DENMAEK. 

The red banner with a white cross that floats from yon- 
der rampart is the Dannebrog, which fell from heaven seven 
hundred years ago, when the brave Waldemar, on the third 
day of a fearful battle on the Gulf of Finland, was near 
being routed. The miracle gave the kingdom its national 
flag. 

Under the fortress sleeps a mighty warrior, Holger 
Danske. The clash of his steel armor is occasionally heard, 
behind the iron door of his vaulted chamber. Two auda- 
cious youths ventured to visit him one night. " Give me 
your hand," said the giant chieftain. An iron bar was ex- 
tended and grasped so fiercely that the impression of the 
grip was left upon the metal. 

When Denmark is in danger, the watchful warrior will 
know it, will rise, come forth from Kronberg, and strike a 
blow that the world will feel. Romances like these are 



GLIMPSES OF FINLAND, RUSSIA, AND DENMARK. 235 

found in medieval history and Scandinavian annals. Am- 
lett, son of the King of Jutland, married an English prin- 
cess, became king, and from his adventures it is said that 
Shakespeare took the idea of his famous " Hamlet." 

Elsinore recalls the fight of Lord Nelson in 1801, and 
Campbell's lines about those dead sailors who sleep — 

" Full many a fathom deep 
By thy stern and stormy steep, 
Elsinore ! " 

COPENHAGEIf. 

The royal city, **The Merchants' Haven," is on a low 
island, with perhaps a quarter of a million people. A little 
fishing village six hundred years ago, it became the capital 
of the kingdom, under Christopher, suffered from the Han- 
seatic League, from fires and bombardments, and so has 
now few antiquities. The cathedral, castle, palace, univer- 
sity, libraries and picture-galleries, with the scientific and 
literary societies, afford abundant materials to interest the 
stranger. But the Thorwaldsen Museum, opened forty 
years ago, is the center of interest to most visitors. 

This ship-carpenter's boy, Bertel, began carving figure- 
heads for merchantmen, but at Rome soon found nobler 
work for his chisel. I was thrilled as such historic produc- 
tions met my eye as " Jason and his Fleece," " The Sea- 
sons," " Day and Night," and other marvelous productions, 
made familiar to all by photograph. To see the originals, 
in the city of his birth and where he died (1844), was a 
valued privilege. The " Risen Christ and Apostles," in 
Frau Kirk, form an uplifting spectacle that demands a 
longer study than hurrying tourists give. 

This king in modern plastic art gave form and beauty to 
the most pure and delicate sentiments. To the joyfulness 
and grace of life he has furnished expression which sur- 
passes language. As Brace says, this Northern artist " has 
given a spring to the world and is a poet of its happiness." 

TivoLi had attracted thousands. Miss Thursby had con- 



2U OUT-DOOR LIFSl IN MtTMOPE. 

certs there. Athletes and acrobats, riders and trapeze per- 
formers were surrounded by crowds, and cafes did a lively 
business. We rode through the city streets in a two-storied 
vehicle, and saw the bright and busy market-places and 
resorts of the people. In one square two thousand or more 
were listening to a military band concert. . 

ACROSS DENMARK. ; 

Leaving Copenhagen in the morning, we reached Korsore 
in about three hours, passing over level fields, with wind- 
mill, cottage, hedge, and garden as in Holland. Leaving 
the train, we took a steamer to Kiel, and crossed in seven 
hours the smooth, shining " Belt " of the Baltic, placid and 
serene as a mill-pond. A family from Brooklyn formed 
pleasant companions. They continued with us from Kiel 
to Hamburg by rail, reaching the city at evening. The 
war port of Germany, Kiel, is a walled city with 40,000 peo- 
ple. There is a university, founded 1665, with several 
hundred students. 

The Danes are a thrifty and enterprising people, with 
more polish, but less power and independence, than their 
Swedish and Norwegian brethren. Lutheranism is the 
established religion. Says a recent author : 

"Governmental interference chills everything ; it holds the reins 
with a tight hand, prescribing even the texts from which the minis- 
ters shall preach — four texts being given for each Sabbath in the 
year, from one of which the sermon must be preached — and requir- 
ing a statement of all that is done in each parish of the land. The 
salary of the bishops, of whom there are seven in Denmark and one 
for each of the duchies, is about two thousand five hundred dollars 
a year ; one-fifth of this sum is the average salary of the clergy." 

No wonder that here, as everywhere in Europe, the de- 
sire is to remove to America ! 



CHAPTER X. 

SUNNY SPAIN. 

Spain is a land of sunshine and of shadow. Bright 
romance and stern reality, fruitfulness and sterility, en- 
trancing beauty and repulsiveness, meet in contrast con- 
tinually. In its history, scenery, physical features, and 
moral life, Spain is full of surprises and contradictions. It 
is a land where two and two make five, according to Tal- 
leyrand. " Yes " may mean " No," and " to-morrow " any 
time in the future. A robber may plunder you, and then 
commend you to the grace of God. He will first take the 
sacrament, and then take your life. 

The ideal Spaniard is brave, proud, dignified, and cul- 
tured. The man you meet is apt to be crafty, passionate, 
and licentious. But it is to be remembered that at the 
beginning of the present century not one-third of the peo- 
ple could read and write. " Africa begins with the Pyre- 
nees," is a saying attributed to Napoleon, but its truthful- 
ness has been endorsed by a Romish ecclesiastic. 

UNDER THE PYRENEES. 

Twenty-four hours from London. The train from Paris 
and Bordeaux stops on the frontier. You are under the 
shadows of the Pyrenees and on the threshold of a terra 
incognita to most Englishmen and Americans. You alight 
from your railway carriage, for the gauge is changed — to 
shut out foreign foes, perhaps. Yankee axles, however, 
are made to elongate and contract to suit emergencies. 

Coinage and language change at this the door of the 
Iberian Peninsula. The time changes. You put your 
watch back about half an hour, prophetic of the backward- 
ness of civilization and tardiness of the slow-moving peo- 
ple. The scenery changes. You leave the vineyards of 
France and enter the Switzerland of northern Spain. The 
highest peaks of the mountains are ever snow-crowned. 



238 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

11,000 feet high, and the range reaches from the Mediter- 
ranean to the Bay of Biscay, thence to Cape Finisterre, 650 
miles. 

The three Basque provinces, ancient Cantabria, are full 
of scenic and historic interest. I spent six days at the 
capital city of one of them, 

SAN SEBASTIAN. 

This is a new, bright town of perhaps 16,000 population, 
with few of Spanish characteristics. It is a summer resort 
for French and English, and full of picturesqueness. The 
historian says that it was, in 1813, " sacked and set on tire 
by English troops, drunk with triumph and with wine." 

Coming hither at the invitation of Rev. William H. 
Gulick, missionary of the American Board, I made his 
house my home. Mrs. G., formerly of Mt. Holyoke, had 
established here a boarding-school where a score of Span- 
ish girls were daily trained. Since then (1882) the school 
has become six times as large and is known as the North 
American College. The tuition fees last year were $2000. 
Fourteen young ladies were members of Protestant 
churches. Five received diplomas at the July examin- 
ation, 1887. The appearance of the students was credit- 
able, and my confidence in the excellence of the manage- 
ment of the school was certified by the assumption of the 
support of two of the pupils there for one year. I would 
bespeak for the institution the cordial cooperation of all 
friends of missions. 

AMONG THE HILLS OF SPAIN. 

The Gibraltar of the North towers over this pleasant 
port, a second Ehrenbreitstein and loftier than Stirling's 
towers. With a Spanish guide I climbed the rampart of 
the Castle de la Mota ; snuffed the tonic air of " breezy 
Biscay"; saw the superb panorama of sea and shore, city 
and country ; visited the chapel of the fortress, the graves 
of English officers, and looked into the convent shrines 
where wooden figures of Joseph and Jesus were exhibited ; 



SUIfNY SPAIN. 23d 

Mary, also, life-size, clad in silk and satin bespangled. It 
was on this ramble I violated Spanish idioms and pro- 
voked the same amusement among Spanish soldiers that 
my Genevan friend gave me when he spoke his words 
" Good travel, good travel." 

Another day, with the sons of Mr. Gulick and two of his 
accomplished teachers, I had a long excursion among hills 
eastward, where Basque cottagers dwell, and through val- 
leys odorous with flowers and fringed with fern, and 
shaded by cypress, poplar, and elm. Here, perhaps, is a 
bullock-cart, with its rude wheels and ruder driver, repre- 
senting a bygone civilization ; coarse muleteers prodding 
their donkeys ; a group of peasants in calico drawers and 
hem]»en sandals, with bright kerchief for the head or shoul- 
ders, and a band of gypsies, young and old, wild and gro- 
tesque in features, dress, and sport. There may be in the 
center a" dancing girl with brown face and ropy hair, 
shuffling through the performance with the clatter of cas- 
tanets, the stamping of heels, and swaying of the body and 
arms. 

Rambles about the docks, shops of artisans, Romish 
churches, into the Plaza de Toros, where bull-fights are 
had on the Lord's Day and on saints' days, and a visit on 
July 4 to the United States consul's office, over which the 
flag of our country was flying, also diversified this enjoy- 
able week. 

GLIMPSES OF OLD CASTILE. 

Charles V. said that Castilian was the only tongue in 
which a man should presume to address his Maker. In this 
province the purest Spanish is spoken. The people are 
loyal, stern, silent, and proud. The men wear long cloaks 
and a queer-shaped hat, and even the beggars are pictur- 
esque, bearing sometimes above their rags a crest to show 
their descent (fast and far) from ancient grandees. To 
address such by any other title than gentlemen, caballero, 
is a deadly insult. Knives are worn in every peasant's 
sash^ carved and often inlaid with an ivory or silver cru- 



UO OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

cifix. " The knife is indiscriminately used," says Bodfisb, 
"to slice a melon, or lay bare a quarrelsome neighbor's 
heart." 

Spanish railways are a task on patience. Fifteen miles an 
hour is the average rate of motion y it would be a solecism to 
talk of " speed." Seventeen hours were consumed in going 
to Madrid ! There are sixty stations. The distance is 382 
miles ; fare, first class, $15. For the first few hours from 
San Sebastian the scenery was charming. Roman roads 
smooth as a floor threaded through fields of grain where 
the reapers were ; they bounded gardens, verdant hillsides, 
and well-tilled patches that told of peaceful industry. 
There were deep valleys sprinkled with sheep and beautified 
with shining streams, where the ilex and the beech were 
growing ; while over all this ever-changing picture of 
fruitfulness and loveliness hung a sky of sapphire, in which 
floated airy clouds that made soft shadows on the sward and 
clothed the mountains in royal purple. I read " The Cid " 
amid the scenes it described, and chatted in poor French 
with a Spaniard about army matters. Lottery tickets were 
offered me at railway stations. Water v.^as for sale, and 
milk, as in Italy. 

BURGOS AND VALLADOLID 

claim great antiquity. The grandchildren of Noah, some 
say, were the first settlers. City directories of that date, 
however, are out of print, and their street address is lost. 
The Cid was born in Burges, 1056, and his dust is shown in 
an urn for a proper pecuniary consideration. The shadows 
of evening fortunately hid from view the crowds of tat- 
tered beggars and starving hidalgos that swarm here, 
muflled to the eyes in ragged cloaks ; for, says Dr. Man- 
ning, " to the true Castilian nothing seems so dreadful as 
fresh air, unless it be fresh water ! Burgos has become a 
perfect hot-bed of beggars." Yet here a noble race once 
kept at bay imperial Rome as well as fierce Moslem. 

The cathedral is regarded by some as the finest in Spain. 
At Valladolid there is a university famous in the history of 



SUJ^NY SPAIN. 241 

law and medicine, the house where Columbus died, the 
homes of Calderon and Cervantes. The Inquisition of 
ghastly memories was gutted by Bonaparte and put to 
better use as a barrack. Here in the market-place the first 
martyr gave his life to Jesus. Long and fiercely blazed 
the fires of the mUo dafe, while in England Cranmer, Rid- 
ley, Latimer, and many others were sacrificed by the 
bloody Mary. The story of the Spanish Armada, fitted 
out in the summer of 1588, is recalled by this third centenary 
celebration in England. Its fate was concisely told in the 
inscription which Elizabeth put on the medal then struck, 
" The Lord sent his wind and scattered them." The fatuity 
as well as cruelty of Spain was shown not only in the mur- 
der of its best citizens but in the expulsion of three million 
of its wealthiest and most intelligent inhabitants, a suicidal 
act from which it never recovered. 

APPROACH TO MADRID. 

Only by the interposition of colored glasses could I toler- 
ate the burning skies that hung over the hideous sterility 
that, for many a league, surrounds the royal city. Vast 
sand-plains are treeless and waste, solitary deserts, save 
here and there rough stone huts appear amid the desola- 
tion. Madrid's claim to a river elicits many a " dry " joke. 
Alexandre Dumas tells of his disappointment in finding 
bridges with nothing to bridge over, and King Ferdinand II. 
ordered the river-bed to be watered to lay the dust before 
he rode across. Even a fainting gladiator has declined a 
glass of water, saying, ** Pour it into the river, it needs it 
more than I do." The French army cried, "Has the river, 
too, run away ? " 

It is a maxim of the citizens of this proud capital that 
" Where Madrid is, let all the world be silent. Who has not 
seen it, has seen nothing." Foreigners are apt to complain 
of its veneer and sham, " of men without courage, women 
without modesty," and a deadly air that stealthily snuffs 
put life with a breath that disturbs not a candle, The 



242 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

blistering heat of midsummer and the icy air of snow-clad 
mountains do sometimes work mischief, and lung troubles 
are common and fatal. Dr. Manning calls Madrid the 
noisiest city in the world. In Pastor Fliedner's hospitable 
mansion near the palace I found quiet. My street strolls 
brought me into no noisier scenes than those of Naples. 
The hucksters, water-carriers, and musicians by day, the 
shouts of the watchmen by night announcing the hour and 
the weather, gave me little annoyance. 

SCENES IN THE EOYAL CITY. 

My first visits were to the schools established by Protes- 
tant missionaries, German and Irish, and to a children's 
hospital, all of which awakened liveliest interest and sym- 
pathy. Mr. Fenn, Mr. Jameson of the U. P. Scotch church, 
and the Y. M. C. A. were visited. They are doing a grand 
work in their individual fields. 

A stroll through the Queen's Gardens, among the beau- 
tiful trees and fountains of the Prado, into the palace and 
over the armory furnished ample materials for a long 
chapter. In the vestry the chaplain's chasuble was handed 
me to lift, it was so heavy with gold. It is valued at 
$50,000. Drawer after drawer was opened containing 
similar specimens of ecclesiastical extravagance. 

More satisfying was the magnificent gallery where 2500 
works of Murillo, Velasquez, Rubens, Raphael, and other 
masters are seen, a historic reminder of the zenith of art in 
sunny Spain, when her proud rule extended far and wide. 
It is regarded the best collection of original paintings in 
Europe. The National Museum of Archaeology was also 
visited ; but this, the libraries and churches can not be 
described in detail. 

AlSr EXCURSION TO TOLEDO. 

This is a seven -hilled city, the Rome of Spain. Stod- 
dard's lectures had made me so familiar with the neighbor- 
hood that I was startled, in crossing the Tagus, with the 



StTJSrNT SPAm, 243 

idea that I must have been there before. Carlos, my 
Spanish guide, moved with celerity, and we made the most 
of our six hours' stay. The heat was intense. Narrow 
streets were sought, and at noon we lunched in the house 
where Cervantes once dwelt. The old and new meet here 
in strange juxtaposition. Under the shadow of the ancient 
Gate of the Sun sat a girl running a sewing-machine, very 
likely from New York. This recalled the old Druidic 
column seen on a Norwegian headland supporting a tele- 
graph wire, palpitating with the life of this exciting 
century. 

The gorgeous cathedral, with the richest altar screen in 
the kingdom, and an idol adorned with 85,000 pearls, 
representing Mary, with a slab which bears the print of her 
foot, on dit ; the gothic cloisters of the splendid convent 
of San Juan ; the Transito, a synagogue of richest orna- 
mentation in the midst of the humble homes of Jews ; 
Santa Maria, of Moorish and Byzantine features, and the 
Alcazar, once a Gothic and then a Roman citadel, now a 
mere relic if not a ruin — these were seen in turn. A ramble 
among the booths and shops entertained me. A Toledo 
blade, navajaj as the Arabs call this savage knife, was pur- 
chased as a souvenir of a busy and instructive day. 

THE ESCUEIAL. 

" There is a Moor / " said my companion, pointing to a 
sad and silent man. The lament of Hood at once came to 
my lips, " One more unfortunate ! " 

Pushing aside the beggars, pipe-peddlers, fruit-sellers, 
tinkers, hat-box venders, crockery, chair and pastry 
mongers, we reached the station and took tickets for the 
Escurial, about thirty miles distant. The name means 
" iron dross," so called because of the iron works formerly 
located here. The desolate region is in keeping with the 
gloomy, austere King Philip II., who reared a mausoleum, 
convent, and palace in one, " Newgate magnified a hundred 
times," Its gridiron shape is said to commemorate the 



244 OUT-DOOB LIFE IN EUROPE, 

martyrdom of St. Lawrence, sixteen centuries ago. Pru- 
dentius makes the faithful saint cool-tempered even in the 
fire. Roasted on one side, he asked to be turned and tasted, 
to see if he were well done ! 

It is an unattractive place for the " eighth wonder of the 
world," a lodge in the wilderness, an apple-tree among 
thorns, a regal pile in a potter's field. Its circuit is about 
one mile. There are 8 organs, 51 bells, 80 fountains, 86 
staircases, 1860 rooms, and nearly 3000 windows. No 
medical college ever collected such a lot of odd toes, teeth, 
stray legs and arms, vagrant skulls, and the like, 7500 
" relics " in all. The kingly monk, or monkly king, lived 
here nineteen years and died a horrible death, like Herod, 
in 1598. The table on which Philip signed his infamous 
orders, the chair in which the gouty sufferer sat, his library, 
chapel, and burial-place were in turn examined. They are 
invested with a sad but fascinating interest. 

It was a relief to go from this gloomy grandeur and see 
the Sanitarium which Pastor Fliedner was building for 
poor children, who now in summer-time here enjoy moun- 
tain air. The breeze is very strong at times, raising some 
things heavier than dust, as once when a pompous ambas- 
sador with his carriage and horses was raised some distance 
heavenward. 

MADEID TO SAEAGOSSA. 

It was an all-night ride, 213 miles, 38 stations. For 
about twelve hours I tasted the discomforts of a second- 
class carriage. Hard benches and villainous tobacco-smoke 
left indelible impression on memory. At 3 : 30 a.m. morning 
brightened the sky, and at 7 o'clock we came into what was, 
in the days of Christ, called Csesarea- Augusta, afterwards 
shortened into its present name. Having breakfasted at a 
small inn with the grandiloquent designation " Hotel of 
the Universe," I sauntered out into the streets of this 
historic city, the capital of Aragon. Of course, the 
memories of Augustina, the Maid of Saragossa, were 



SUNJVr SPAIN. 245 

uppermost, Childe Harold having been my boyhood's 
favorite. 

" Her lover sinks ! she sheds no ill-timed tear ; 
Her chief is slain ! she fills his fatal post ; 
Her fellows flee, she checks their base career : 
The foe retires, she heads the sallying host ! * 

The appalling scenes of famine, bloodshed, and death 
associated with the sixty-three days' siege of 1808 can 
hardly be conceived. There were 15,000 who lay dead or 
dying. Every house was a fortress. Along the narrow 
streets ran a crimson tide, and from the windows infuriated 
women poured boiling oil upon the French invaders. The 
name of this town has ever been " a cry of war to the 
army and a cry of liberty to the people." Its memories 
are tragic and its aspect somber. The market-place was 
the place where multitudes of Christian martyrs were 
burned. From the balconies of the old stone houses about 
there many eyes may have gloated over, but some must 
have looked on such scenes with pitying sympathy. 
Although the" power that perpetrated these inhumanities 
boasts its unchangeableness, the civilization of the future 
never again will tolerate the barbarism of the Inquisition. 
Here and elsewhere the place of torture is now used for 
industrial or other reputable purposes. Intelligent mem- 
bers of the established church themselves plead for religious 
freedom. Better days are surely coming to this darkened 
land. 

MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 

A brother of the San Sebastian missionary kindly gave 
me lodgings, and Don Manuel Carrasco, an assistant, was 
very attentive. Tlieir training-school of young men was 
doing a grand work in education. They had the aid of 
B., a second Joan of Arc in a spiritual sense ; a woman of 
wonderful personality, of rare intellectual and oratorical 
gifts consecrated to Christ. She was once a member of a 
political club in this, " the hot-bed of revolution," unmar- 
ried and unfurnished with means beyond what her daily 



246 OUT-DOOR LIFE m EUROPE. 

toil earned. She refused aid from any organization, but 
trusting in God she went up and down among villages as 
a flaming fire, preaching to her sex the grace that bringeth 
salvation. Guards were placed at the doors to keep away 
crowds that would gladly enter, for the law allowed her a 
limited number to meet in a private house for worship. 

The steadfastness of converts, like that of the mission- 
aries, is worthy of all praise. Physical suffering, loss of 
property, imprisonment, and repeated attempts at assassi- 
nation show that the old heroic spirit of three centuries 
ago still lives. Changing Pierpont, we may say : 

" The MARTYK spirit is not dead ! 

It walks the earth in noon's broad light. 
And watches the bed of the glorious dead. 

With the holy stars at night ! 
It watches the bed of the brave who bled. 

And shall guard this rock-bound shore, 
Till the waves of the bay, where the Armada lay. 

Shall foam and freeze no more I " 

OUTDO OES AND IN. 

The bridge over the Ebro was built 1437, when Colum- 
bus was in his cradle. Near it I saw a lot of colossal fig- 
ures stored, representing Don Quixote and other grotesque 
fancies, which are carried on frames, as a part of the amuse- 
ment of fete days. Cups of porchata^ sold in the street, 
I found to be an excellent substitute for ice cream. The 
gilded metallic crescent basin, vacia, fitted under the chin, 
is the sign of the barber. Every old Spanish town seemed 
a glossary and commentary on my early studies, and re- 
celled Signor Bello and Cambridge days of 1851-5. No 
one will ever regret the thoroughness with which he pre- 
pares himself for foreign travel. 

The Leaning Tower, like its duplicates all over Europe, 
does not alarm you by its undue obliquity. Its age as an 
octangular Moorish clock-tower is its principal feature of 
interest. The philosophical apparatus in the University 
was examined with interest. The exquisite melody of the 



SUI^NY SPAIN. 247 

boy choir at St. Paul's ; the ruined convent of St. Engracia 
and its legends ; the two cathedrals — Madrid has not even 
one — and the votive offerings are remembered. 

Like Diana of Ephesus, El Pilar is worshipped devoutly. 
In a single day 50,000 have visited it. The idol receives 
such continued oscular and labial pressure as to be worn 
quite smooth. I noticed the portrait of a man whose am- 
putated leg was restored, March 23, 1640, by rubbing on 
the stump the lamp-oil burned before the idol ! The spot 
was pointed out when Durans murdered the bloody inquis- 
itor San Pedro, September 15, 1495, while at his devotions. 
At the burning of the assassin several " combustible Jews " 
were added. 

THE CITY OF HERCULES. 

Barcelona is 226 miles from Saragossa. The fiery heat 
the blazing sky and burning sands that glared during much 
of the time, twelve hours, made the railway ride anything 
but comfortable. My eyes were inflamed, in spite of every 
precaution. Lerida with its cathedral fortress and river 
are "worth a visit from England to see," says Street. 
Herodias and her daughter danced on the ice here one win- 
ter's day. They both fell through and Herodias drowned at 
once, quietly. Salome, with historic propriety, allowed 
the ice to enclose her neck and was beheaded ! Credat 
Judmus Apella, as Horace would say. 

Pastor Simpson gave me a brotherly welcome to his 
charming home. Never was green so welcome as after the 
sand and cinders — " many of them would weigh a pound " — 
were removed from my eyes, and once more I saw clearly. 
In his garden was the vine, pomegranate, pine, orange, 
cherry, banana, acacia and palm-tree. The creamy milk 
and fruits were also relished. But even Paradise had mos- 
quit.oes, perhaps. Barcelona has. The gnat of San Sebas- 
tain and the chnex lectidarius of Madrid were worse, how- 
ever. They are to be studied in the light of BushnelPs 
"Moral Uses of Dark Things." 

Some make Hamilcar the founder of this city, and others 



248 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUBOPS. 

associate it with Hercules of pre-historic times, who came 

amid the gardens fair 

** Of Hesperus and his daughters three. 
That sing about the golden tree." 

The golden apples were Spanish oranges, and Juno's 
gardens were in this happy Iberian land. In this aurifer- 
ous region the Phoenicians found gold enough to fill their 
shifa. They even made their anchors of gold. 

THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. 

It is not unlike the Holy Land in some its natural and 
social features. One Sunday evening I stood upon the 
house-top and thought of David's meditations and of 
Peter's prayers. The purple Pyrenees were glowing 
beneath the westering sun, and the blue Mediterranean, on 
which our Lord has looked, glistening in the east. The 
law about putting a battlement about the house-top to 
prevent one falling from the roof was recalled, as I leaned 
against the stone parapet. The close of the previous Sab- 
bath at Saragossa found me with American missionaries, 
in the cool of the day, on just such an outlook. The silent 
stars looked down upon that ancient city as they did when 
Aurelius Prudentius, fifteen centuries ago, sat, in that very 
street perhaps, and wrote his fourteen hymns about the 
crowned ones, " Libri Peristephanon " in praise of martyred 
saints, and his " Psycho machia," the unending struggle of 
sin in the soul. The house-top is a good oratory. Descend- 
ing into the house you see the huge water-pots, holding 
nearly a barrel ; the fire of coals ; the ancient lamps, the 
stone manger, the deep round stone well, the fellowship of 
man and beast in the posada, quite like a caravansery; then 
the threshing floor, the winnowing fan or shovel, and many 
other objects, clearly Oriental. There is the turban, sandal, 
and girdle, that remind you of the East; forms of the house- 
hold etiquette and rites of hospitality which might be des- 
cribed in detail. 

There is much in the natural aspects of Spain at present 



SUJ^NY SPAIN. 249 

which is like Palestine. Parts of each land are beautiful, but 
much is an arid desert, treeless, songless, and desolate. In 
the north of Spain you find lovely Swiss scenery, but south- 
ward it is a vast sand plain, hideous in sterility. The dust, 
dirt, bugs and insects, with the fiery splendor of cloudless, 
rainless heavens, week after week, tell on the endurance of 
a stranger. Yet one may travel at night in midsummer with 
comparative comfort, and by avoiding the noontide heat 
accomplish a great deal in the way of sight-seeing. 

SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

The thick walls of the houses make the temperature much 
cooler than in American houses. The narrow streets also 
shut out the hot sun. The death-rate is large in Spanish 
cities. A citizen of Barcelona told me that the growth of 
this busiest city of Spain depended on the influx of residents 
from other provinces, for in the densest part there were 
more deaths than births. The lack of water in the homes 
of the poor, the stench of neglected sewers, and the general 
ignorance and thriftlessness of the lower classes, combine to 
increase the mortality. I did not form a very exalted idea 
of medical skill from what was told me. Bleeding is a 
common method of relieving both men and beasts. A poor 
horse loses a pound at a time. Thirteen or seventeen sea- 
baths are ordered to be taken by women of delicate make. 
They shiver a half -hour at a time in the surf as if the thing 
were penance, as it is. The number ordered is odd, the 
days odd on which they are to be taken; in fact, the whole 
treatment is^rery odd. But public bathing is as fashionable 
as private bathing is unfashionable. I was shown people 
who never wash; yet one of these would not drink from the 
cup from which you took a sip of water unless it were 
rinsed carefully. He would perhaps smash the earthen jug 
of water if you, in drinking, had chanced to touch the nozzle 
to your lips. 

It was a suggestive sight to see the asses and goats stand 
before the doors of fine houses on the best avenues, to be 



250 OUT-DOOR LIFE IN EUROPE, 

milked. It was certainly a saving of carts and cans and 
horses. More than all, there was no chance for cheating by 
watering the milk. You get no chalk or skimmed milk, 
but the milk of the " udder kind," genuine and good. 

The iron brackets under the lofty cornices remind you 
that, in moving, all articles are lifted by pulley up to and 
taken in at the windows. These windows are wide glass 
doors and admit the largest articles. Each family has a flat. 
Much time, trouble, noise, and breakage are saved by this 
method of moving. Large crates and straw are furnished 
in which fragile things are kept secure, and the expense of 
moving is but four or five dollars. Huge knockers are out- 
side the main entrance. This is closed at 11 p.m. You call 
your servant by striking the number of your floor — 1, 2, 
3, or 4. If yours is the ground floor, a series of sharp raps 
inform those inside that you are a belated basement lodger. 

SCENES IN BARCELONA. 

A painting of the harbor by Andrew Melrose had for 
years adorned my study walls. I was glad to verify its 
accuracy and witness the busy scenes within the mole and 
along the jetty. The Rambla, a well-shaded boulevard, 
furnished a cheerful picture of outdoor life and a study of 
faces, gait, and pantomime such as always delighted me. 
The market-place, the somber cathedral, and the cemetery 
were visited. The latter recalls memories of the plague, 
when thousands fell victims of yellow fever. The vaults 
are in perpendicular rows of seven, the depth seven feet, 
and the aperture two feet square. The indecent cramming, 
in some instances of uncoflSned remains, gives a fresh argu- 
ment for cremation as a sensible sanitary measure. 

Visits were made to schools and chapels, and addresses 
given through an interpreter. Since 1882 a cottage hospital 
has been established by the Protestant missionaries. Mr. 
and Mrs. Lund, whose acquaintance before their marriage I 
had made in Sweden, Mr. Payne and others are doing effi- 
cient service in this city. 



SUNNY SPAIN. 251 

Excursions may attract the visitor, that to Monserrat 
particularly. The monastery recalls the name of Loyola, 
and the riven peaks the earthquake at the crucifixion, at 
which hour, it is believed, this mountain was torn asunder. 
Gerona is a quaint town, said to be 2800 years old. Views 
of the Mediterranean at this point are delightful. 

THE GYPSIES OP FIGUERAS. 

Two days in this border town closed my Spanish tour. 
It is a broad plain amid olive-trees. A vast fortress, with 
bomb-proof arsenals and magazines and barracks for 20,000 
men, with inexhaustible cisterns of water, guards this stra- 
tegic point. But the only interest to me about this old, 
decayed town is that heroic missionaries like Pastor Cifre 
and wife of Boston, Pastor Rodriguez and wife — an English 
lady whom I knew before her marriage — are willing to risk 
their lives in this malarious place to do good, amid many 
hardships and discouragements. 

The last night spent in Spain I addressed a congregation 
of a hundred Catalonians and gypsies. The room, the peo- 
ple, and the service are vividly before me now. A motley 
crowd they were, men and women, of various ages, com- 
plexions and conditions. Their head-dresses, their gar- 
ments, and their voices were novel. A dim light but partly 
revealed the people and the dingy chapel. They listened 
with attention, and when they sang their voices, strong and 
stridulous, had a kind of pathetic sweetness that impressed 
me. They lingered after meeting, and expressed their 
gratitude. A village doctor, wishing to show his apprecia- 
tion, offered me his services without pay. My confidence 
in Spanish systems of therapeutics was not great; besides, 
what could a well man do with his pills and plasters ? His 
simple-hearted thankfulness, however, was tj'^pical of the 
sentiment there and elsewhere prevailing, and it was good 
to recognize and acknowledge it. A few who could speak 
English walked with me to my lodgings, along the quiet 
streets in the full moonlight of that midsummer's night. 



252 OUTDOOR LIFE IN EUROPE. 

And thus the weeks spent in Sunny Spain were ended. 
They began in missionary circles, and with them and the 
work they represent the interest and the charm of this 
romantic land will ever be associated. Its noble language, 
its engaging history, its varied scenery and social customs, 
its undeveloped resources and future possibilities form a 
study of absorbing interest. Is it too much to believe that 
the regenerative force of the gospel will yet redeem Spain 
from her painful decrepitude and put her in the van of 
ransomed nations ? Sixty years raised Greece, we are 
told, from the position of a beggar and a slave to the head 
of the self-educated nations of Europe. Civil and religious 
liberty have lifted other nations lowest in their wane to a 
bright zenith, and secured the rehabilitation of such as have 
fallen into debasement and decay. 

The harvests of this once happy Iberian Land are ripe; 
not merely the maize of Aragon and Castilian fields of 
corn, not the flocks of Leon and the groves of orange, 
citron, and fig; not the fruitful lands on which the purple 
Pyrenees fling their shadows, or those of Andalusia and the 
Paradise of the Moors where winter never comes, but 
spring and summer ever smile; not these alone, but millions 
of her children are longing for better things. English 
ideas are taking root. The simple gospel is taught. From 
breezy 'Biscay to the pillars of Hercules evangelists and 
teachers are sowing precious seed, and some have brought 
home the sheaves. The towers and spires that once red- 
dened with the glare of the auto-da-fe are now catching the 
gleams of sunrise, the day-dawn of liberty and righteous- 
ness. Remembering what relations America sustains to 
Spain — as the four-hundredth anniversary of her discovery 
is celebrated — every true patriot will with broadest relig- 
ious sympathies aid in lifting this once noble race and 
putting it where Isaiah saw it in ImmanuePs hosts — 

THE SHIPS OF TARSHISH FIRST ! 



